L  B 


NRLF 


EXCHANGE 


/     ^     X 


THE 


OTY  of  ALPHA  ZE 

High  Council 


HIGH   CHANCELLOR. 

College  of  Agriculture,  Columbia,  Mo. 


R.  C.  POTTS 

Office  of  Markets,  U.  S.  Dept.  of   Agricul- 
ture, Washington,  D.  C. 

HIGH  SCRIBE JOHN  H.  PARKER 

Bur.  Plant  Industry,  U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agri- 
culture, Washington,  D.  C. 


HIGH  TREASURER  I.  B.  POTTER 

Extension  Division,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

HIGH  CHRONICLER 

Bureau  of  Vocational   Education, 
Harrisburg,  Pa. 


Quarterly   Correspondents 


TOWNSHF.N!  ALLEN  L.  BAKER 

67  W.  lOlh  Ave.,  Columbus,  Ohio. 

MORRII  ROBERT  P.  WETHERALD 

A.  Z.  House,  State  College,  Pa. 

MORROW....  O.  J.  TROSTER 

212  E.  Green  St.,  Champaign,   111. 

CORNH  ...  W.  P.  FROST 

214  Thurston  Ave..  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 

KEDZIE  M.  H.  SHEARER 

6  A.  Wells  Hall,  E.  Lansing,  Mich. 

GRAM  W.  T.  TAPLEY 

College  of  Agriculture,  Durham,  N.  H. 

NEBRA-  •  TOWNSEND 

"Of    St..    : 

NORTH  CAROLINA J. 

West  Raleigjji,  .N;  C. 

LAGRANGF.  JaTEOSau  . 

2089  Carter  Ave.,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

GREEN  MOUNTAIN F.  R.  CHURCHILL 

468  College  St.,   Burlington,  Vt. 

WILSON E.  W.  STILLWELL 

Latauma  House,  Ames,  Iowa. 

BATK-O-  .DAN  W.  FLICKINGER 

524  N.  Henry  St.,   Madison,  Wis. 

CENTENNIM  'AMES  V.  BLUEBAUGH 

Care  State  Mer.  Co.,  Ft.  Collins,  Colo. 


MAINE  \.  J.  BOWER 

Sigma  Alpha  Epsilon   House,  Orono,   Maine. 

MISSOURI..  J.  D.  FESHENFELD 

703  Hitt  St.,  Columbia,  Mo. 

ELLIOTT....  HENRY  HARTMAN 

Pullman,  Wash. 

CALIFORNIA  II.  K.  Fox 

6405    Regent   St.,   Oakland,    Cal. 

PURDUE M.  H.  OVERTON 

216  Waldron  St.,  W.  LaFayette,  Ind. 

KANSA  ..A.  J.  MANGELSDORF 

K.  S.  A.   C.,   Manhattan,   Kans. 

WALTER  K.  MARSHALL 
'  \gricultural  College,  North  Dakota. 

"ScovEi-L 

^43  Harrison  Ave.,  Lexington,   Ky. 

MORGAN EDMOND  C.  PETERS 

618  W.  Main  Ave.,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

GEORGIA JOHN  M.  PURDOM 

College   of   Agriculture,   Athens,    Ga. 

LOUISIANA  R.  C.   ! 

m  Rouge,  La. 

OKLAHOMA 

Slillwater.  O 


QUARTERLY  of  ALPHA  ZETA 

Published  Under  Authority  of  the  High  Council 


Table  of  Contents 


Agriculture  in  Alabama  High  Schools W.  C.  Blasingame 

Agriculture  in  California  High  Schools W.  G.  Hummel 

Agricultural  Education  in  Indiana Z.  M.  Smith 

Agricultural  Education  in  Maryland J.  E.  Metzger 

The  Massachusetts  Home-Project  Plan  of  Vocational 

Agricultural  Education R.  W.  Stimson 

Agriculture  in  the  Secondary  Schools  of  Michigan W.  H.  French 

Agriculture  in  the  Public  High  Schools  of  Minnesota A.  V.  Storm 

Agriculture  in  Montana  High  Schools C.  A.  Bush 

Agricultural  Education  in  the  State  of  New  York L.   S.  Hawkins 

Agriculture  in  the  Secondary  Schools  of 

North  Dakota William  A.Broyles 

Agriculture  in  New  Hampshire  High  Schools Geo.  H.  Whitcher 

Vocational  Agricultural  Education  in  Pennsylvania L.  H.  Dennis 

Development  and  Present  Status  of  Agriculture  in  the 

Secondary  Schools  of  Texas J.  D.  Blackwell 

Agricultural  Education  in  the  State  of  Vermont F.  B.  Jenks 

Agriculture  in  the  High  Schools  of  Wisconsin H.  N.  Goddard 

Development  of  Special  Agricultural  Schools  in  the 

United  States  .  .C.  H.  Lane 


344178 


i 


QUA 


of  ALPHA  XKTA 


Entered  as   second   class   matter   January   29,    1907,   at   the   postoffice,   Columbus, 
Ohio,    under    Act    of    Congress,    March    3d.    1879. 


Vol.  XIV 


JUNE,  1916 


No.  5 


The  Quarterly  of  Alpha  Zeta  is  pub- 
lished quarterly  in  the  interests  of  the 
Alpha  Zeta  Fraternity,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  High  Council.  The  subscrip- 
tion price  is  $1.00  per  annum  for  the 
active  members.  The  subscriptions  to 
be  collected  by  the  Chapter  Treasurer, 
and  paid  to  the  High  Treasurer  as  so 
much  dues  as  provided  for  under  the 
Constitution.  The  subscription  price  to 
Alumni  is  50  cents  per  annum,  payable 
to  the  Quarterly  Editor.  All  subscrip- 
tions payable  in  advance. 


Contributions     are     desired     from     all 

members  —  Clippings,  College  Papers, 
Sketches,  Verses  and  Personals  espe- 
cially requested.  All  material  for  pub- 
lication must  be  in  the  hands  of  the 
editor  by  the  First  of  November,  Feb- 
ruary, May  and  August.  Chapter  cor- 
respondents will  be  held  responsible  for 
regular  chapter  contributions. 

All  communications,  exchanges  or 
literary  articles  should  be  sent  to  the 
Editor,  Bureau  of  Vocational  Education, 
Harrisburg,  Pa. 

L.   H.   DENNIS,    Editor-in-Chief. 


Editorial 

VEN  a  hasty  perusal  of  the  following  pages  will  disclose  the 
fact  that  this  issue  of  the  Alpha  Zeta  Quarterly  is  devoted  to 
a  discussion  of  the  teaching  of  agriculture  in  the  high  schools 
throughout  the  UnitedStates.  This  phase  of  public  education  is 
receiving  the  attention  of  the  leading  educators  of  our  country. 
The  reasons  for  teaching  agriculture  in  the  secondary  schools  are  many. 
Some  are  pedagogical  and  others  economic.  There  is  no  longer  a  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  or  not  agriculture  should  be  taught  in  the  high  school. 
That  is  not  the  problem.  The  question  of  how  it  shall  be  taught  and  un- 
der what  conditions  requires  much  careful  thought  and  has  given 
many  a  school  official  much  concern.  While  the  subject  matter  of  agri- 
culture is  very  much  the  same  in  the  various  states,  even  under  different 
conditions,  yet  the  method  of  organization  of  instruction,  the  school  plant 
and  the  political  area  to  be  served  by  the  different  types  of  schools  varies 
considerably.  It  has  been  the  aim  of  this  series  of  articles  to  show  along 
what  lines  secondary  agricultural  education  has  been  developed  in  dif- 
ferent states. 

The  teaching  of  agriculture  in  the  public  high  school  is  yet  in  its  in- 
fancy, and  we  are  still  in  a  state  of  transition  with  respect  to  method  of 
organization,  etc.  The  metamorphosis  of  the  subject  is  by  no  means 
complete. 

If  agriculture  is  to  be  successfully  and  efficiently  taught  in  the  sec- 
ondary schools  of  our  nation,  it  will  be  because  the  problems  in  connection 
therewith  are  being  handled  by  men  of  education  and  experience.  This 
work  even  at  the  present  time  is  already  attracting  to  its  ranks  of  teachers 
men  who  are  unusually  strong  in  personality,  education  and  experience. 
It  is  hoped  that  this  series  of  articles  will  be  of  some  value  to  the  strongest 
men  among  our  Agricultural  College  graduates,  and  that  what  is  set 
forth  in  these  pages  will  show  in  a  clear  manner  that  in  this  line  of  work 
there  is  a  wonderful  opportunity  for  agricultural  and  educational  service. 


QUARTERLY  OF  ALPHA 


Agrkuliiwo  k  Alabama  'High  3c  hero  Is 

W.  C.  BLASINGAME,  High  School  Inspector 


N  1895  the  Legislature 
appropriated  $4500.00 
to  each  of  the  Congres- 
sional Districts  for  the 
support  of  an  Agricul- 
tural High  School.  The  location  of 
these  schools  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  a  commission  to  decide  be- 
tween competitive  bids  and  offers 
of  land,  buildings,  equipment  and 
additional  support. 

The  course  of  study  in  these 
schools  includes  the  regular  high 
school  course  in  English,  Math- 
ematics, History,  Science,  (includ- 
ing Botany,  Physics  and  Chemis- 
try). In  addition  to  these,  the  course 
in  Agriculture  is  as  follows:  First 
year,  Elementary  Agriculture  and 
Farm  Accounts.  Second  year,  de- 
tailed study  of  Southern  Crops, 
Horticulture,  and  Animal  Husban- 
dry. Third  year,  dairying  and  plan 
diseases.  Fourth  year,  Forage  Crops 
and  chemistry  of  soils  and  ferti 
lizers. 

Demonstration  farms  are  worked 
by  each  school,  and  each  boy  must 
do  a  minimum  of  one  and  a  half 
hours  of  work  a  week  on  the  farm. 
In  several  of  these  schools  practical 
work  in  dairying  and  stock  feeding 
is  carried  on.  Just  at  present,  boll 
weevil  makes  stock  breeding  and 
raising,  the  growing  of  hay,  and 
other  feed  stuff  a  very  practical 
study  for  the  schools.  The  efforts 
of  many  to  get  the  soils  inoculated 
for  clovers,  and  vetches  and  furnish 
this  to  the  farmers  are  winning  the 
good  will  and  sympathy  of  the 
community  to  an  unusual  degree. 
Eight  years  ago  an  appropriation 
of  $3,000.00  was  made  to  each 
county  for  the  support  of  a  County 


High  School.  Fifty-five  of  the  six- 
ty-seven counties  have  met  the 
conditions  imposed,  and  have  the 
schools  in  operation.  The  course 
of  study  in  these  schools  is  similar 
to  that  of  the  Agricultural  Schools, 
except  that  more  electives  are  al- 
lowed, and  only  two  years  of  Ag- 
riculture are  required  of  all  students. 

The  Principals  of  these  High 
Schools  are  doing  much  extension 
work  with  the  farmers,  and  through 
the  Tomato  Club  girls,  and  the 
Corn  and  Pig  Club  boys  are  exerting 
quite  a  force  in  the  counties.  The 
demand  for  this  extension  work, 
not  only  along  agricultural  lines 
but  cultural  as  well,  is  stronger  than 
can  be  met,  because  until  very  re- 
cently, no  training  for  this  was  con- 
sidered by  the  schools  and  colleges. 
The  few  men  who  have  proven 
themselves  capable  community  lea- 
ders have  had  their  salaries  almost 
doubled  in  the  last  few  years. 

The  salaries  of  teachers  of  Agri- 
culture are  about  50%  higher  than 
those  of  the  teacher  of  the  classics, 
and  the  demand  increases  rapidly. 
In  addition  to  the  work  of  teaching 
agriculture  we  have  a  Farm  Dem- 
onstrator in  each  county,  and  their 
salaries  are  about  the  same  as  those 
of  the  High  School  Principals.  Many 
of  the  city  high  schools  are  offering 
limited  courses  in  agriculture,  and 
nearly  all  are  offering  Domestic 
Science.  So  attractive  has  this  line 
of  work  become,  that  more  than 
200  students  in  the  Alabama  Poly- 
technic Institute,  or  23%  of  the  to- 
tal enrollment,  have  registered  in 
the  Department  of  Education, 
opened  for  the  first  time  last  Sep- 
tember. 


As  an  example  of  the  practical 
work  of  these,  will  give  the  detail- 
ed work  of  one:  Peaches,  grapes, 
berries  of  different  kinds  are  grown 
on  the  school  grounds,  that  practi- 
cal work  in  pruning,  spraying,  can- 
ning, and  marketing  may  be  taught. 
Canning  of  tomatoes,  okra,  corn, 
beans  and  other  vegetables  and 
fruits,  both  in  open  ovens  and  under 
steam  pressure  is  taught. 

Plots  of  all  clovers  that  grow  well 
here,  vetch,  alfalfa,  and  other  leg- 
umes are  grown  in  order  to  get  the 
soil  inoculated  for  the  distribution 
to  the  farmers.  Experiments  of  the 
effect  of  grazing  dairy  cows  for 
short  periods  daily  are  made  with 
the  friends  and  patrons.  Babcock 
tests  of  milk  are  made  at  as  many 
schools  of  the  county  as  want  them, 


and  as  often  as  necessary  to  give  the 
patrons  help  in  testing  their  cows. 
Balanced  rations  are  worked  out 
for  any  one  that  gives  a  list  of  the 
feeds  available. 

While  there  are  more  than  a  hun- 
dred high  schools  in  the  state  giving 
varying  amounts  of  text  book  in- 
struction in  agriculture,  only  about 
one-third  of  these  are  making  a 
thorough  demonstration  of  the  prin- 
ciples. Possibly  another  third  are 
doing  some  work  in  school  garden- 
ing. A  very  large  third  now  give 
the  minimum  requirements,  and  do 
that  because  they  have  to.  Not  all 
teachers  yet  agree  that  children  in 
a  state  whose  population  is  80% 
rural,  need  practical  training  for 
making  a  better  living  and  living 
a  better  life. 


Agriculture  in  California  High  Schools 

W.    G.    HUMMEL 


N  1902,  the  University 
of  California  was  the 
only  institution  in  the 
State  giving  regular  in- 
struction in  agriculture. 
At  the  present  time,  agricultural  in- 
struction is  offered  in  five  of  the 
eight  normal  schools,  in  sixty-eight 
public  high  schools,  in  the  two  spec- 
ial state  schools  at  San  Luis  Obispo 
and  Davis,  the  State  Industrial 
schools,  and  in  several  private 
schools  and  colleges.  The  Gardena 
High  School  (Los  Angeles  City) 
offers  agricultural  instruction  as  the 
one  principal  purpose  of  the  school. 
The  legislature  of  1901  passed  an 
act  providing  for  the  California 
Polytechnic  School  at  San  Luis 
Obispo  and  two  years  later  the 
school  came  into  being.  This  sec- 
ondary school  was  the  first  institu- 
tion outside  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia to  offer  agricultural  instruc- 
tion. The  school  has  been  a  success 
from  the  start,  and  during  the  year 
1915-1916,  31  of  the  148  students 
enrolled  in  the  school  were  taking 
the  agricultural  courses. 

The  legislature  of  1 905  made  the 
first  appropriation  for  the  Univer- 
sity Farm,  and  the  University  Farm 
School  at  Davis,  California.  Here 
an  opportunity  is  offered  for  prac- 
tice courses  for  college  students  at 
Berkeley,  the  majority  of  whom 
spend  one  semester  at  the  Farm 
before  graduation. 

In  1908,  the  first  school  building 
was  erected  at  Davis,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1909  a  three-year  school 
of  agriculture  for  boys  who  had  fin- 
ished the  eighth  grade  was  started 
with  an  enrollment  of  eighteen  boys. 
In  1913,  the  entrance  requirements 


were  changed.  A  three  year  course 
is  now  offered  to  young  men  who 
are  eighteen  or  more  years  old,  or 
who  are  high  school  graduates. 

Instruction  in  the  public  high 
schools  may  be  said  to  have  been 
inaugurated  in  this  state  by  the 
offering  of  a  course  in  "general 
science  and  botany,  with  special  re- 
ference to  agriculture"  at  the  Gar- 
dena High  School,  in  1908.  In  1909, 
a  fourteen-acre  farm  was  purchased 
by  this  school  for  $14,000,  lath 
houses  and  green  houses  construc- 
ted, an  irrigation  system  installed, 
and  provision  made  for  laboratory 
work.  In  1910,  the  school  was  or- 
ganized as  a  special  agricultural 
high  school,  a  part  of  the  Los  Ange- 
les City  school  system.  The  school 
now  has  225  students. 

In  1909,  the  high  school  at  Im- 
perial, Oxnard,  and  Bakersfield  em- 
ployed technically  trained  men  to 
teach  agriculture.  Agricultural  lab- 
oratories were  equipped  at  all  of 
these  schools,  including  a  dairy  lab- 
oratory at  Imperial.  A  greenhouse 
was  built  at  Oxnard.  School  gardens 
were  established  at  Imperial  and 
Oxnard.  During  the  same  year,  ex- 
periments in  teaching  agriculture 
in  a  small  way  were  made  at  Glen- 
dale,  Hanford,  and  a  few  other 
schools. 

During  1910,  the  folio  wi  ng 
schools  placed  technically  trained 
men  in  charge  of  agricultural  cours- 
es in  their  high  schools:  Stockton, 
Fresno,  Econdido,  Hollywood, 
Lordsburg  Livermore,  and  Fern- 
dale.  In  a  few  others,  one  year 
general  agricultural  courses  were 
offered  by  science  teachers.  Dur- 
ing the  same  year,  27  acres  of  land 


were  purchased  for  the  Bakersfield 
school,  at  a  cost  of  $16,000.  A 
house  and  barns  were  already  built 
on  the  land.  Improved  stables, 
sheds,  glasshouse,  etc.,  have  since 
been  provided.  A  dormitory  which 
will  accomodate  about  twelve  stu- 
dents has  also  been  built  on  the 
school  farm.  In  the  same  building 
is  a  laboratory,  in  which  a  part 
of  the  agricultural  instruction  is 
given.  The  livestock  owned  by  the 
school  includes  two  horses,  two 
two  colts,  cows,  pigs  and  chickens. 


During  the  school  year  1911-1512, 
Los  Banos,  Brawley,  Lompoc 
Yreka,  King  City,  College  City,  and 
Ventura  secured  agricultrally 
trained  men  to  present  their  agri- 
cultural courses;  Hanford,  Lodi 
Napa,  Ontario,  and  Whittier  fol- 
lowed in  1912  and  1913;  Chico, 
Centerville,  Hollister,  Selma,  Lind- 
say, Pasadena,  and  Tulare  in  1913 
and  1914;  Hemet,  Inglewood,  Ker- 
man,  Lemoore,  Reedley,  San  Jose, 
Santa  Ana,  Turlock,  Ukiah,  Van 
Nuys,  and  Visalia  in  1 9 1 4  and  1 9 1  5 ; 


INTERIOR    OF    LATH    HOUSE,    PASADENA,    CAL.,    HIGH    SCHOOL 


Ten  acres  of  land,  divided  into 
orchard  and  field  crop  plots,  was 
purchased  by  the  Lordsburg  High 
School  in  1910.  A  potting  house, 
lath  house,  and  greenhouses  were 
erected,  and  suitable  laboratory 
equipment  secured. 

Tentative  experiments  in  agri- 
cultural teaching  were  made  by 
science  teachers  at  Petaluma,  Santa 
Cruz,  and  a  few  other  places 


and  Cedarville.  Laton,  Los  Angeles 
(Manual  Arts  High  School),  Oak- 
dale,  Oleander,  Paso  Robles,  Pom- 
ona, Redlands,  Venice,  and  Marys- 
ville  in  1915  and  1916. 

During  the  same  years,  1911- 
1916,  a  considerable  number  of  high 
schools  introduced  agricultural 
work,  offered  by  the  science  teach- 
ers. At  the  present  time  sixty-eight 


8 


JOTfE, 


California   high   schools   are   giving 
agricultural  courses. 

There  has  been  no  legislation  in 
this  State  with  regard  to  the  teach- 
ing of  agriculture  or  other  voca- 
tional work  in  the  public  high 
schools,  except  that  it  may  be  in- 
cluded in  the  curriculum  and  credit 
given  for  it  as  a  part  of  high  school 
work.  During  the  year  1915,  a  bill 
providing  State  Aid  for  vocational 
instruction  was  passed  by  both 
houses  of  the  State  Legislature,  but 


tion,  we  might  mention  the  Kerman 
and  Pasadena  high  schools.  Kerman 
is  located  inthe  rich  farming  coun- 
try of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley.  Its 
population  is  about  500.  The  high 
school  has  about  70  students.  Mr. 
Howard  Dickson,  a  graduate  of  the 
University  of  California,  majoring 
in  Agricultural  Education,  started 
the  work  in  this  school  in  Septem- 
ber. 1914,  and  is  now  offering  the 
following  courses:  First  year,  agri- 
cultural general  science  (consisting 


HOT    BEDS    AND    FLOWER    GARDENS,     PASADENA,     CAL.,     HIGH    SCHOOL 


was  not  signed  by  the  Governor  and 
therefore  did  not  become  a  law. 

The  action  of  the  University  of 
California,  in  1909,  providing  for 
the  acceptance  of  certain  high  school 
agricultural  subjects  for  matricula- 
tion, has  undoubtedly  encouraged 
the  introduction  of  agriculture  in 
our  high  schools  more  than  any 
other  one  thing. 

As  examples  of  California  high 
school  giving  agricultural  instruc- 


largely  of  the  study  of  plant  life, 
growth,  and  development,  plant 
environment — heat,  light,  moisture, 
soil,  etc.);  second  year,  dairying  and 
animal  husbandry;  and  the  third 
year,  horticulture.  Next  year 
course  in  farm  mechanics,  including 
farm  buildings  and  farm  manage- 
ment, will  be  offered.  The  school 
has  twenty  acres  of  land,  four  acres 
of  which  are  used  for  a  building  site. 
The  rest  is  used  for  demonstration 


(O? 


and  experimental  work,  as  follows: 
school  gardens,  one  acre;  field  crops, 
ten  acres;  nursery,  one  acre;  vine- 
yard, one  acre;  and  orchard,  three 
acres.  The  students  are  required  to 
carry  on  a  home  project  as  a  part  of, 
and  in  connection  with  each  of  their 
high  school  agricultural  courses.  A 
temporary  building,  containing  a 
dairy  laboratory  and  a  classroom, 
has  been  erected  especially  for  the 
agricultural  work. 

During  the  present  year,  a  short 
course  in  dairying  was  offered  for 
the  farmers  of  the  community.  Lab- 
oratory facilities  were  not  large 
enough  for  the  number  that  applied 
for  the  course.  The  school  is  used 
as  a  civic  and  social  center  of  the 
community,  in  which  special  meet- 
ings are  held  each  month.  The  smal- 
lest number  in  attendance  at  any  of 
these  meetings  has  exceeded  200. 
The  rural  teachers  of  the  commun- 
ity have  also  been  organized  to 
meet  once  a  month,  at  which  meet- 
ing the  agricultural  teacher  offers 
them  suggestions  with  regard  to 


nature  study  and  elementary  agri- 
culture in  their  schools. 

The  Pasadena  High  School,  loca 
ted  in  a  city  of  35,000,  has  1,643 
students.  132  are  taking  the  agri- 
cultural courses.  Two  agricultural 
teachers,  are  employed  and  are  of- 
fering four  years  of  work,  as  follows: 
First  year  agriculture,  including  the 
study  of  the  plant  and  its  environ- 
ment; second  year,  dairying,  animal 
husbandry,  and  poultry;  third  year, 
horticulture;  and  fourth  year,  farm 
mechanics  and  farm  management. 
It  is  planned  to  offer,  soon,  a  course 
in  floriculture,  especially  for  girls. 
There  is  a  special  building  on 
the  grounds  in  which  all  of  the  agri- 
cultural instruction  is  given.  Green- 
house, lath  house,  and  hotbeds  are 
provided  and  three-fourths  of  an 
acre  is  used  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses. The  school  owns  two  cows 
and  several  pens  of  chickens.  The 
accompanying  illustration  will  give 
some  idea  of  the  equipment  and  the 
work  of  the  agricultural  department 
of  the  Pasadena  High  School. 


Ag  rieMlfaral  m 

Z.  M.  SMITH,  State  Director  of  Agricultural  Education 


GRICULTURE  has 
been  taught  in  public 
schools  in  Indiana  for 
several  years.  A  quest- 
tionaire  was  sent  out 
from  Purdue  University  to  Indiana 
school  officials  in  1910,  relative  to 
the  teaching  of  agriculture.  The  re- 
plies received  revealed  the  fact  that 
many  counties  at  that  time  had  in- 
cluded agriculture  in  the  courses  for 
seventh,  eighth  and  high  school 
grades.  In  November,  1912,  a  ques- 
tionaire  was  sent  to  all  County  Sup- 
erintendents by  Supt.  H.  L.  Rogers 
of  Pulaski  County,  who  at  the  an- 
nual State  Conference  discussed 
"The  Rural  School  Problem  in  Re- 
gard to  Agriculture."  The  answers 
to  Mr.  Rogers'  inquiries  show  that 
agriculture  was  being  taught  in 
every  county  in  the  State. 

While  a  great  deal  of  the  school 
work  in  agriculture  was  poorly  done, 
yet  interest  in  the  teaching  of  the 
subject  was  aroused  to  the  extent 
that  the  legislature  of  the  State, 
without  a  dissenting  vote,  passed  a 
law  in  1913,  which  made  mandatory 
the  teaching  of  agriculture  in  the 
public  schools  of  towns  and  town- 
ships. In  accordance  with  the  pro- 
visions of  the  law  about  seven 
thousands  teachers  are  this  year 
teaching  agriculture  to  approxi- 
mately fifty  thousand  pupils  in  the 
seventh  and  eighth  grades,  and  six 
hundred  high  school  teachers  have 
classes  in  agriculture. 

In  addition  to  making  the  teach- 
ing of  agriculture  mandatory  in  the 
public  schools  of  the  State,  the 
Indiana  Vocational  Education  Law 
provides  for  establishing  either  vo- 
cational schools  or  departments 


which  may  receive  State  Aid.  Be- 
cause of  the  excellent  work  that  is 
being  done  in  agriculture  in  the  high 
schools  of  the  State  as  well  as  in  the 
seventh  and  eighth  grades,  there 
has  been  no  demand  for  strictly  ag- 
gricultural  high  schools  as  such. 
Substantial  progress  in  vocational 
agricultural  instruction  has  been 
made,  however,  through  the  voca- 
tional departments  that  have  been 
established.  These  departments 
have  been  established  in  thirteen 
communities  in  the  State  under  the 
direction  of  the  State  Supervisor  of 
Agricultural  Education,  who,  under 
the  provisions  of  the  Vocational  Edu- 
cation Law  is  the  joint  agent  of  the 
State  Department  of  Public  In- 
struction and  the  Purdue  Univer- 
sity Agricultural  Extension  Depart- 
ment. The  teachers  in  these  depart- 
ments are  employed  for  twelve 
months  in  the  year.  Seven  hundred 
and  sixty  boys  and  men  have  been 
enrolled  in  these  vocational  agri- 
cultural departments. 

During  the  summer  of  1915  twen- 
ty-one vocational  teachers  were  em- 
ployed to  supervise  the  home  pro- 
ject work  of  seven  hundred  pupils. 
The  communities  that  employed 
these  teachers  were  given  state  aid 
through  the  State  Department  of 
Public  Instruction  and  the  Purdue 
Agricultural  Extension  Depart- 
ment. The  pupils  under  their  sup- 
ervision earned  during  the  summer, 
the  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  seventy-two  dol- 
lars. 

A  great  deal  of  the  agricultural 
work  that  is  being  done  by  the 
teachers  in  the  public  schools  of 
Indiana  is  closely  related  to  the 


11 


vocational  agricultural  instruction 
that  is  being  given  in  the  voca- 
tional departments.  They  have  the 
boys  do  their  work  on  a  project 
basis  and  in  many  cases  visit  the 
homes  of  the  pupils  and  personally 
supervise  the  projects. 

In  many  school  districts  in  the 
State,  farmers  will  not  plant  corn 
that  has  not  been  tested.  For  the 
most  part,  the  corn  is  tested  for  the 
farmers,  by  the  agricultural  class  in 
the  home  school.  A  great  deal  of 
prejudice  on  the  part  of  parents  had 
to  be  overcome  before  the  value  of 
testing  seed  corn  could  be  demon- 
strated in  a  practical  way  by  the 
boys.  Gradually  the  rag  doll  and 
sawdust  or  sand  testers  have  come 
into  common  use  on  the  farms  as  a 
result  of  the  work  by  the  public 
school  pupils. 

The  schools  have  done  a  notable 
work  in  the  improvement  of  the 
dairy  interests  of  the  State.  Many 
unprofitable  cows  have  been  sent  to 
the  block  as  a  result  of  the  records 
which  school  boys  have  kept  of  their 
Babcock  tests  for  butter  fat  and  of 
the  amount  and  kinds  of  feed  used. 
In  many  cases  good  cows  have  been 
discovered  by  the  boys  and  have 
been  made  even  more  profitable  by 
the  care  given  them  and  the  rations 
fed  in  accordance  with  information 
obtained  at  school.  This  year  three 
hundred  pupils  in  Delaware  County 
alone  did  the  kind  of  work  just  de- 
scribed. 

Fruit  and  vegetable  growing  have 
received  a  great  deal  of  attention 
in  the  schools  in  all  parts  of  the 
State.  Budding,  grafting,  pruning, 
and  spraying  of  fruit  trees  have  been 
practiced  extensively  by  pupils  and 
in  many  instances  in  Montgomery, 
Hamilton,  Elkhart  and  Green  Coun- 
ties the  entire  management  of  the 
home  orchard  has  been  entrusted 
to  the  boy  who  has  studied  agricul- 


ture in  school.  The  home  gardens 
have  been  planned,  cultivated  and 
managed  in  detail  by  pupils  who 
have  done  the  work  as  a  part  of 
their  regular  school  course.  The 
gardening  work  is  not  confined  ex- 
clusively to  country  boys  and  girls. 
Last  year  twenty  thousand  pupils 
in  town  and  city  schools  in  Indiana 
cultivated  home  garden  plots  under 
the  direction  of  the  public  schools. 

The  important  problem  of  poultry 
raising  has  not  been  neglected  by 
the  public  schools  of  Indiana.  Many 
schools  have  constructed  poultry 
houses  on  the  school  grounds  and 
have  hatched  chickens  and  fed  hens 
for  egg  production.  But  a  greater 
work  than  this  has  been  done  with 
poultry  by  the  pupils  in  their  man- 
agement of  poultry  at  home.  The 
practical  management  of  poultry 
which  is  limited  to  the  flock  on  the 
school  grounds  has  comparatively 
little  value.  But  when  pupils  react 
to  the  school  instruction  by  manag- 
ing the  home  flock  on  a  practical 
basis,  then  the  work  performed  at 
school  becomes  of  inestimable  value. 
The  pupils  in  the  school  at  Star 
City  have  improved  the  poultry  in 
the  community  to  such  degree  that 
eggs  produced  in  that  locality  bring 
from  two  to  five  cents  more  per 
dozen  on  local  and  New  York  mar- 
kets than  do  the  eggs  from  other 
parts  of  Pulaski  County. 

The  lessons  learned  at  school  have 
given  many  boys  confidence  in  their 
judgment  of  livestock  and  livestock 
management  to  the  degree  that  they 
have  mustered  up  enough  courage 
to  propose  to  their  fathers  that 
scrub  stock  be  replaced  by  pure 
bred,  and  that  more  economical  and 
nutritive  rations  be  fed.  Parents 
have  learned  to  respect  the  work 
of  the  schools  because  of  the  pro- 
fitable results  obtained  by  follow- 


13 


ing  the  suggestions  which  their  boys 
have  made. 

Purity  tests  with  clover  and  al- 
falfa seeds  which  the  public  schools 
have  made,  have  netted  the  farmers 
of  the  State  an  amount  equal  to  a 
snug  fortune.  At  Pine  Village  in 
Warren  County,  the  seed  dealer  was 
elated  over  the  fact  that  farmers 
would  no  longer  purchase  second 
grade  seed  because  the  boys  had 
demonstrated  in  their  agricultural 
work  that  high  grade  seed  is  cheap- 
er, and  in  addition  to  its  being 
cheaper  it  is  free  from  the  seeds  of 
obnoxious  weeds  which  have  been 
distributed  far  and  wide  in  Indiana 
by  sowing  impure  clover  and  al- 
falfa. 

Many  Indiana  teachers  and  their 
pupils  have  demonstrated  that  the 
personal  interest  basis  of  teaching 
agriculture  is  more  productive  of 
real  achievement  than  any  other 
method  that  has  been  used.  By 
this  method  the  boys  deal  with  the 
practical  problems  of  the  farm  on 
basis  of  their  own  personal  interests. 
For  example,  if  the  problem  is  one 
of  seed  corn  selection  or  one  of 
corn  growing,  poultry  or  pig  rais- 
ing, the  question  is  not  dealt  with 
on  the  general  basis  of  how  to  select 
seed,  grow  corn,  raise  poultry  or 
pigs,  but  the  problems  are  made 
specifiic.  To  each  boy  the  question 
is  "How  shall  I  select  my  seed  corn, 


grow  my  corn,  raise  my  poultry  or 
pigs?" 

The  answer  to  the  specific  ques- 
tion is  not  found  by  the  reading  and 
rec  tation  method,  but  by  actual 
demonstration  by  the  boy.  The 
demonstration  is  not  made  in  the 
school  laboratory,  but  in  the  home 
field  or  the  home  feed-lot. 

The  importance  of  supervision 
of  home  projects  and  the  value  of 
the  work  are  emphazised  by  the  fact 
that  one  cannot  measure  their  worth 
in  dollars  and  cents.  Parents  are 
enthusiastic  about  the  work  and  un- 
iformly report  that  their  children 
have  been  led  through  the  project 
work  to  take  a  keener  interest  in 
the  daily  duties  of  the  farm.  Teach- 
ers are  agreed  that  the  teaching 
of  agriculture  by  the  project  method 
on  a  personal  interest  basis  not  only 
makes  agriculture  in  the  schools 
worth  while,  but  develops  the  abil- 
ity to  assume  responsibility, 
strengthens  the  power  to  take  in- 
itiative, substitutes  for  either  idle- 
ness or  drugery  a  pleasurable  and 
productive  employment,  creates  a 
desire  for  enjoyment  through  a- 
chievement,  supplants  the  idea  of 
mere  fun-making  with  the  ideal  of 
genuine  pleasure  resulting  from 
doing  constructive  work  that  is 
freighted  with  possibilities  for  com- 
munity betterment,  and  lays  a  foun- 
dation, broad  and  deep,  upon  which 
to  build  character  and  citizenship. 


14 


ISIS 


Agricultural  KdueaLlon  m  Maryland 

J.   E.   METZGER 


Probably  the  most  striking  evi- 
dence of  the  increasing  interest  in 
secondary  agricultural  education 
in  Maryland,  is  the  large  number  of 
schools  that  have  provided  for  this 
course  during  the  past  few  years, 
and  certainly  no  high  school  move- 
ment has  aroused  greater  interest 
in  the  State  than  the  introduction 
of  agricultural  instruction.  There 
are  at  present  in  Maryland,  twenty- 
one  high  schools,  in  which  courses 
in  agriculture  are  offered.  In  gen- 
eral, this  work  is  organized  as  a 
special  department  of  the  school, 
and  a  specially  trained  teacher  is  em- 
ployed for  its  administration. 

The  first  agricultural  high  school 
to  be  established  in  Maryland  was 
the  Calvert  School  in  Cecil  County 
in  1907.  Prior  to  this  time  the  only 
agricultural  instruction  of  a  sec- 
ondary character  that  was  conduc- 
ted in  the  State  was  that  of  the 
two-year  course  at  the  Maryland 
Agricultural  College.  Since  the  or- 
ganization of  the  first  school,  there 
have  been  organized  other  schools 
along  two  distinct  types;  first,  the 
special  agricultural  high  school,  of 
which  there  are  several  in  the  State, 
and  second,  the  agricultural  depart- 
ment, the  form  of  school  most  com- 
monly organized  during  the  past 
few  years.  The  addition  of  an  ag- 
ricultural department  to  the  already 
existing  high  school  has  become  a 
favorite  plan,  largely  on  account  of 
the  economy  rendered  thereby  in 
buildings,  teaching  force,  admin- 
istration, and  in  affording  a  central 
location  for  the  school. 

In   most   communities   in   Mary- 
land,   there   is   a   demand   for  high 


school  courses  of  study  of  an  acad- 
emic chacarter.  The  problem,  then, 
has  been  to  provide  both  the  vo- 
cational and  academic  work  in 
nearly  every  high  school  in  the 
State.  On  account  of  using  the  ex- 
isting school  organization  and  the 
local  buildings  for  the  new  depart- 
ment of  the  high  school,  most  of 
these  schools  are  located  in  the 
county  seats  and  the  smaller  towns 
of  the  State.  Maryland  has  a  county 
form  of  organization,  and  conse- 
quently the  county  high  school,  as 
a  rule,  is  located  at  the  county  seat. 
This  centralizing  of  the  agricultural 
instruction  in  the  villages  and  towns 
has  not  worked  any  hardship  in  re- 
gard to  the  agricultural  instruction 
in  Maryland.  On  account  of  its 
splendid  roads  and  modern  means 
of  transportation,  including  the 
automobile,  inter-urban  cars  and 
railways,  it  has  been  very  easy  to 
centralize  the  schools.  The  machin- 
ery, so  far  as  organization  was  con- 
cerned, was  already  at  hand.  In  a 
few  instances,  it  has  been  neces- 
sary to  build  additions  to  the  school 
buildings  to  accomodate  the  new 
work,  but  this  has  been  at  much  less 
expense  than  would  have  been  re- 
quired to  build  a  new  and  separate 
school.  The  tendency,  then,  in  the 
State  in  the  past  has  been  to  favor 
the  agricultural  department,  and  in 
this  State  the  work  has  not  been 
handicapped  by  its  vocational  as- 
pect. 

The  controlling  purposes  of  the 
agricultural  instruction  in  Mary- 
land are  the  making  of  useful  citi- 
zens and  the  fitting  of  its  boys  for 
profitable  work  in  the  home  com- 
munity. On  account  of  its  stringent 
requirements  in  English  and  mathe- 


15 


matics,  it  has  not  become  a  retreat 
for  naturally  backward  or  deficient 
students.  The  agricultural  subjects 
have  replaced  for  the  most  part  the 
Latin  and  modern  languages  that 
are  ordinarily  taught  in  the  high 
school.  The  general  science  work 
of  the  course  in  this  State  is  ap- 
proximately the  same  as  that  of 
the  acdaemic  courses,  except  that 
it  has  been  given  a  decided  agricul- 
tural trend. 

As  in  other  States,  a  partnership 
has  been  established  between  the 
State  and  the  local  community  for 
securing  effective  training  in  rural 
vocations.  As  a  member  of  the 
partnership,  the  State  has  insisted 
upon  a  cooperative  spirit  between 
local  and  State  agencies.  This  part- 
nership has  been  in  theform  of  finan- 
cial assistance  and  State  super- 
vision of  the  work  in  the  schools. 
The  present  law  provides  for  a 
special  appropriation  to  schools  that 
maintain  courses  in  two  of  the  vo- 
cational subjects:  agriculture,  man- 
ual training,  and  domestic  science. 
"Any  high  school  in  the  State  is 
entitled  to  the  sum  of  $400.00,  an- 
nually, on  account  of  the  instruc- 
tion in  special  subjects,  to  be  desig- 
natedby  the  County  School 
Board."  A  special  provision  in  the 
law  makes  it  possible  for  a  teacher 
to  divide  his  time  between  two 
schools.  However,  the  work  has 
taken  such  proportions  wherever 
tried  out,  that  it  has  not  been  found 
wise,  except  in  one  case,  to  take 
advantage  of  this  feature  of  the  law. 

One  of  the  chief  hindrances  for 
the  future  development  of  the 
school  in  the  State  has  been  a  pro- 
vision of  the  law  which  permits  the 
local  community  to  select  between 
agriculture  and  commercial  work. 
The  organization  of  the  commer- 
cial departments  preceded  the  or- 
ganization of  the  agricultural  de- 


partments, and  since  the  law  does 
not  provide  for  special  aid  except 
for  one  of  those  departments,  there 
are  some  rural  high  schools  in  the 
State  that  are  training  stenog- 
raphers for  the  offices  in  the  city 
instead  of  training  an  agricultural 
citizenry. 

With  the  advent  of  the  high 
school  came  the  demand  for  teach- 
ers of  this  new  type  of  school  work. 
Since  the  State  College  was  not  able 
to  furnish  a  sufficient  number  of 
trained  teachers,  the  recruits  re- 
present various  degrees  of  prepar- 
ation for  their  work.  Some  of  the 
teachers  are  from  other  state  col- 
leges of  agriculture,  others  are  suc- 
cessful teachers  of  science,  but  for 
the  past  two  years  nearly  all  of  the 
new  teachers  employed  have  had 
a  special  training  for  this  work. 
One  handicap  that  has  been  rather 
pronounced  in  the  State  of  Mary- 
land, is  the  length  of  service  of  the 
agricultural  teacher.  A  review  of 
the  length  of  service  of  the  agricul- 
tural teachers  of  this  State  shows 
that  the  average  tenure  is  less  than 
two  years.  This  has  been  due  to  the 
great  demand  for  these  men  in  other 
agricultural  pursuits,  and  also  to 
the  fact  that  most  of  the  teachers 
are  employed  for  the  school  term 
only.  A  definite  step  is  being  taken 
at  the  present  time  toward  remedy- 
ing this  unfortunate  condition.  It 
has  been  proposed  that  the  agricul- 
tural teachers  become,  during  the 
summer  months,  leaders  of  the  Jun- 
ior Extension  work  in  their  localities, 
but  it  is  too  early  as  yet  to  make 
any  definite  prediction  as  to  the 
success  of  such  an  arrangement. 
There  are  hopes,  however,  that  it  will 
work  for  the  benefit  of  both  causes 
by  dividing  the  expense  between 
the  local  community  and  the  Ex- 
tension service.  There  will  be  a 
uniting  of  forces  and  a  minimizing 


JTOfSE, 


of  duplication  in  the  work.  In  ad- 
dition, it  is  hoped  that  this  Junior 
Extension  Work  will  also  become 
a  part  of  the  local  school  activities, 
and  thus  make  it  possible  to  put 
into  practice  what  has  been  taught 
in  the  school  room. 

In  addition  to  the  regular  class 
instruction  and  laboratory  work 
of  the  agricultural  department  of 
the  high  school,  there  is  a  definite 
movement  toward  the  development 
of  the  home  project  work.  The  aim 
is  to  have  each  student,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  course  in  agriculture 
pursued  during  the  year,  perform 
a  definite  project  on  the  home  farm. 
Among  the  projects  that  have  been 
inaugurated  are;  records  and  ac- 
counts of  farm  activities;  projects 
of  a  productive  character  relating 
to  farm  crops;  market  garden  pro- 
jects; live  stock  and  dairy  projects, 
and  poultry  projects.  In  the  in- 
auguration of  this  feature  of  high 
school  work,  two  aims  have  been 
kept  in  view:  first,  to  give  the  boy 
the  opportunity  to  put  into  prac- 
tice the  things  that  he  learned  in 
school,  making  him  a  producer  on 
a  limited  commercial  scale;  and 
second,  to  secure  a  greater  cooper- 
ation and  sympathy  for  this  type 
of  school  work  from  the  patrons. 
It  has  been  felt  that  unless  some 
arrangement  of  this  kind  could  be 
put  into  practice,  the  work  of  the 
department  would  become  too  acad- 
emic. Thus  far,  the  work  has  met 
with  not  only  the  approval  of  the 
teachers,  but  all  other  school  author- 


ities, and  a  good  beginning  has 
been  made. 

Much  good  has  been  done  by  the 
frequent  conferences  that  have  been 
held  by  the  teachers  of  agriculture. 
Two  conferences  are  held  annualy, 
one  at  the  beginning  of  the  school 
year  and  the  other  in  connection 
with  the  State  Teachers'  Associa- 
tion. In  these  meetings,  the  men 
have  exchanged  ideas  and  plans 
freely  and  the  benefit  of  the  con- 
ferences is  already  apparent.  One 
of  the  direct  results  of  these  con- 
ferences has  been  the  preparation 
of  a  course  of  study  and  its  contents 
which  shall  represent  for  Maryland 
a  standard  course.  The  agriculture, 
like  the  climate  and  topography  of 
this  State,  is  too  varied  to  permit 
a  uniform  schedule  for  the  schools 
of  the  State.  An  arrangement  has 
been  made  so  that  the  schools  can 
adapt  the  work  to  the  needs  of  the 
local  community  and  at  the  same 
time  give  the  standard  course  in 
each  division  of  the  subject.  The 
difference  comes  largely  in  the  time 
of  giving  the  various  subjects. 

In  most  instances,  the  patrons 
and  school  boards  are  greatly  in- 
terested in  the  agricultural  work 
taught  in  their  school.  There  is 
abundant  evidence  that  the  voca- 
tional studies  can  be  made  to  train 
boys  in  the  things  that  they  will 
do  as  men;  that  they  tend  to  bring 
the  high  school  in  closer  touch 
with  the  people;  that  they  lead  the 
boys  to  a  greater  interest  in  the 
farm  and  in  the  welfare  of  the  rural 
community. 


17 


Tho  Massachusetts   Hlomo  (^oject   [Man. 


of  Vocational  Agricultural  Kducmtloin 

R.  W.  STIMSON,  Massachusetts  Board  of  Education 


HE  Massachusetts 
system  of  vocational 
agricultural  education 
includes  separate 
schools  and  depart- 
ments in  high  schools.  In  the  case 
of  a  school,  the  State  pays  one-half 
the  maintenance  expenses;  in  the 
case  of  a  department,  two-thirds 
the  salary  of  the  agricultural  in- 
structor. In  all  cases,  the  work 
centers  on  productive  projects  thor- 
roughly  studied  and  carefully  plan- 
ned at  school,  but  carried  out,  with 
supervision  throughout  the  pro- 
ducing season  by  the  agricultural 
instructors,  on  the  home  farms  of 
the  pupils. 

Separate  or  County  Schools 

The  first  school  to  do  such  work 
was  the  Smith 's  Agricultural  School 
at  Northampton.  A  unique  feature 
of  this  school  is  the  architecture  of 
the  main  building,  a  cut  of  which 
will  be  found  on  page  2.  At  the 
heart  of  the  building  is  a  large  in- 
door arena.  This  has  an  earth  floor. 
It  may  be  used  separately,  or  in 
connection  with  the  auditorium, 
by  throwing  up  rolling  partitions. 
The  entrance  and  exit  to  the  arena 
are  as  ample  as  the  big-door  en- 
trance to  a  barn  floor.  All  kinds  of 
farm  implements  and  machines  may 
be  studied  and  overhauled  in  it. 
Animals  may  be  judged  and  trained 
here.  The  arena  has  been  the  scene 
of  many  notable  community  center 
occasions  for  the  benefit  of  those 
interested  in  agriculture.  At  the 
Annual  Poultry  Show  held  last 


December,  a  thousand  birds  were 
exhibited.  More  than  eighty  horses 
were  exhibited  in  sixteen  classes, 
afternoon  and  evening,  at  a  recent 
horse  show  in  the  arena.  Last 
April,  there  was  a  County  Confer- 
ence on  Community  Planning  held 
at  the  school,  with  an  exhibit  in 
the  arena  of  the  products  of  seven- 
ty-five different  manufacturing  es- 
tablishments in  the  county.  This 
school  provides  instruction  in  home- 
making  for  girls. 

The  Essex  County  Agricultural 
School  is  conducted  upon  similar 
lines,  with  an  enrollment  of  200 
pupils.  At  the  Bristol  County 
School,  instruction  for  girls  has  not 
yet  been  introduced,  but  training 
in  practical  farm  work  on  the  school 
premises  for  city  boys  who  wish  to 
become  farmers  has  been  carried 
farther  at  this  school  than  at  any 
of  the  others  in  the  State.  Norfolk 
County  is  in  the  process  of  estab- 
lishing a  vocational  agricultural 
school,  and  may  provide  for  in- 
struction in  both  agriculture  and 
homemaking. 

As  in  the  case  of  agriculture,  so 
in  homemaking  every  effort  is  being 
made  to  center  instruction  upon 
home  projects  supervised  by  the 
teachers, — supervised  at  least  to 
such  an  extent  that  the  teachers 
shall  be  thoroughly  familiar  with 
the  home  conditions  of  the  indi- 
vidual girls  for  whose  training  they 
are  responsible. 

The  land  at  these  separate  or 
county  schools  is  well  diversified 


18 


THE  QUARTERLY  OF  A! 


and  typical  of  the  tillable  land  in 
the  sections  where  the  schools  are 
located,  the  average  amount  avail- 
able being  about  100  acres  each. 

Agricultural    Departments    in    High 
Schools 

The  first  high  school  to  make 
special  provision  for  agricultural 
instruction  was  that  at  Petersham. 
A  new  and  very  attractive  con- 
solidated school  building  had  been 
erected,  from  funds  raised  in  part 
by  taxation  and  in  part  from  private 
subscriptions.  On  the  rear  was 
built  a  small  greenhouse.  The 
school  grounds  provided  for  some 
practical  work  in  fruit  growing  and 
gardening  at  the  school,  and  this 
land  at  the  outset  was  used  for  such 
purposes.  There  are  now  thirteen 
high  schools,  each  employing  a 
specialist  who  devotes  his  entire 
time  to  the  teaching  of  agriculture, 
the  supervision  of  home  projects, 
and  advisory  work  among  farmers 
in  the  vicinity  who  seek  his  help. 
As  a  rule  there  is  neither  land  nor 
livestock  at  the  school  in  the  cases 
of  these  departments.  The  enroll- 
ment per  instructor  is  limited  to 
twenty  pupils.  In  Concord,  where 
there  are  thirty-five  pupils,  the  or- 
iginal instructor  has  been  furnished 
an  assistant. 

Home  Projects 

The  emphasis  put  upon  home 
projects  in  Massachusetts  insures 
that  the  agricultural  instruction 
shall  not  be  merely  academic. 
Where  agricultural  instruction  is 
really  scientific,  there  should  be 
no  hesitation  in  putting  it  to  the 
test  of  producing  work.  Of  our  ag- 
ricultural instructors  and  of  our 
boys,  it  is  emphatically  true  that 
they  are  known  by  their  fruits.  In 
1914,  235  of  our  boys,  who  turned 
in  reliable  accounts,  showed  earn- 


ings amounting  to  $42,060,73,  of 
which  sum,  $37,936.67  was  from 
farm  work.  In  1915,  418  boys 
showed  earnings  amounting  to 
$56,254.75,  of  which  $51,279.89 
was  from  farm  work,  and  of  which 
$25,229.73  was  cash,  and  the  re- 
mainder credit  given  by  parents  for 
work  and  products  furnished  by 
the  boys. 

Courses  of  Study 

In  both  schools  and  departments, 
one-half  the  school  day  is  devoted 
to  project  study  and  project  work. 
The  ratio  of  work  to  study  varies 
from  time  to  time  and  from  season 
to  season,  according  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  projects  which  are  in 
preparation  or  under  way.  Except 
occasional  meetings,  there  is  no 
formal  classroom  instruction  from 
the  time  of  closing  the  regular 
schools  in  June  until  their  opening 
in  September.  All  pupils,  however, 
keep  accurate  bookkeeping  ac- 
counts, and  make  written  reports 
on  their  projects  at  the  end  of  the 
season.  Stimulated  by  frequent 
supervision,  they  are  keen  eyed-and 
observant,  and,  in  some  ways,  the 
summer,  when  class  work  is  suspen- 
ded, is  the  most  important  teaching 
season  of  the  year.  Agricultural  de- 
partments are  looked  upon  as  being 
in  session  forty  weeks  a  year,  gener- 
ally March  1st  to  Thanksgiving; 
the  schools  are  looked  upon  as  in 
session  fifty  weeks  a  year. 

Pupils  in  departments  in  high 
schools,  may  devote  one-half  of 
their  time  to  regular  high-school 
subjects.  Pupils  in  the  separate  or 
county  schools  have  English  every 
year,  and  give  attention  to  such 
subjects  as  history,  civics,  agricul- 
tural economics,  drawing,  hygiene, 
physical  training,  and  music,  on 
one  hand;  and,  on  the  other  hand  to 
a  continuous  line  of  development 


20 


in  scientific  studies,  such  as  biology 
of  farm  plants,  biology  of  farm  an- 
imals, agricultural  botany,  agricul- 
tural chemistry,  and  farm  drawing. 
Because  the  staff  of  the  separate  or 
county  school  is  selected  with  spec- 
ial reference  to  the  purpose  of  this 
type  of  school,  which  is  to  prepare 
boys  for  farming,  all  subjects,  par- 
ticularly the  science  subjects  just 
mentioned,  are  taught  so  as  to  show 
their  relationship  to  the  productive 
work  the  boys  are  carrying  on  and 
their  bearing  upon  the  careers  the 
boys  intend  to  follow.  Stated  in 
percentage,  the  separate  or  county 
school  reserves  about  50%  of  the 
time  of  the  boys  for  project  study 
and  project  work,  about  30%  for 
subjects  whose  relationships  to  ag- 
riculture are  strongly  emphasized 
and  clearly  brought  out,  and  about 
20%  for  non-agricultural  subjects, 
such  as  good  reading,  writing  and 
speaking,  duties  of  citizenship,  and 
wholesome  recreation. 

"Professional  Improvement" 

Agriculture  is  of  all  professions,, 
perhaps  the  hardest  to  master,  and 
of  all  business,  the  least  well  or- 
ganized and  established.  No  young 
man  entering  upon  the  teaching  of 
agriculture  can  be  supposed  to  be 
a  master  of  farming,  either  as  a  pro- 
fession or  as  a  business. 

This  is  emphasized  in  Massachu- 
setts by  a  definite  provision  for 
"professional  improvement"  work. 
Each  instructor  must  devote  ap- 
proximately two  months  a  year  to 
this  purpose.  One  month  is  al- 
lowed for  vacation.  Nine  months 
are  devoted  to  teaching  and  super- 
vision of  projects. 

Plant  project  instructors  must 
be  on  duty  throughout  the  summer. 
Their  "professional  improvement" 
work  is  generally  done  in  winter. 
That  of  animal  project  instructors 
may  be  done  in  summer. 


With  a  limited  number  of  pupils, 
it  has  been  possible  to  take  care  of 
the  project  supervision  in  summer 
by  devoting  about  three  days  a 
week  to  it.  In  such  cases,  two  days 
a  week  throughout  the  summer  may 
be  reserved  for  "professional  im- 
provement", and  the  period  of  ab- 
sence in  winter  correspondingly  re- 
duced. 

The  programs  of  "professional 
improvement"  are  never  the  same 
for  any  two  instructors,  and  are 
seldom  the  same  for  one  instructor 
any  two  years.  By  "professional 
improvement"  is  meant  such  pro- 
grams of  work,  observation  study, 
and  lesson  planning  as  shall  be  ap- 
proved in  each  case  from  year  to 
year  by  the  Board  of  Education. 
This  entire  period  has  been  spent 
by  one  instructor  at  the  Massachu- 
setts Agricultural  College.  For  a 
newcomer  to  the  State  such  a  course 
affords  an  admirable  opportunity 
to  make  first-hand  acquaintance 
with  the  specialists  on  the  college 
staff,  and  to  know  the  doctrines 
they  hold  to  be  important  for  the 
improvement  of  Massachusetts 
farming.  This  entire  period  has 
been  spent  by  another  instructor 
working  for  a  market  gardener, 
because  his  previous  practical  ex- 
perience has  been  somewhat  de- 
ficient in  this  field.  A  month  of 
such  a  period  has  been  spent  by  an 
instructor  in  collecting  farm  manag- 
ment  data  in  territory  served  by 
his  school,  and  a  second  month  in 
working  on  the  school  farm,  in  get- 
ting a  better  grasp  of  the  all-round 
routine  of  practical  farm  manage- 
ment  in  the  height  of  the  producing 
season.  Usually  a  program  con- 
sisting of  one  month  of  investi- 
gation, at  home  or  at  a  distance, 
and  one  month  of  preparation  of 
lesson  outline  and  teaching  materi- 
als, is  to  be  preferred. 


21 


Cooperation  of  Educators 
Both  schools  and  departments 
work  in  closest  cooperation  with 
the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  Col- 
lege and  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture.  All  joint  un- 
dertakings, such  as  promotion  of 
club  work,  making  of  farm  manage- 
ment surveys,  demonstration  of 
improved  methods  of  farming,  are 
covered  by  written  memoranda  of 
agreement  with  the  director  of  the 
Extension  Service  of  the  College, 


iated  with  the  other  farm  bureaus 
of  the  State  and  the  work  of  which 
is  done  in  cooperation  with  the 
State  Leader. 

Thus,  we  feel  that  in  Massachu- 
setts we  have  a  smooth  running 
and  thoroughly  efficient  plan  of 
organization  of  our  various  activ- 
ities in  agricultural  education,  Fed- 
eral, State  and  local.  We  are  un- 
dertaking to  avoid  overlapping  of 
functions  and  needless  duplication 
of  expenditures  of  public  funds. 


AGRICULTURAL    DEPARTMENT    IN    HIGH    SCHOOL,     PETERSHAM,    MASS. 


as  the  joint  representative  of  the 
College  and  the  United  States  De- 
partment of  Agriculture,  with  the 
title  of  "State  Leader."  Instruct- 
ors in  departments  cooperate  close- 
ly with  the  farm  bureaus  in  their 
counties.  Our  law  provides  that 
there  shall  not  be  county-aided  farm 
bureaus  in  counties  where  there  are 
county  agricultural  schools.  County 
schools,  however,  maintain  farm 
bureau  departments  which  are  affil- 


The  board  of  education,  whose  duty 
it  is  to  supervise  the  State-aided 
schools  and  departments,  has  made 
it  its  first  business  to  promote  the 
cooperative  plan  above  outlined. 

Cooperation  with  Farmers 

Of  course  we  feel  that  little  could 
be  accomplished   through   the  co- 
operation of  educators  without  the 
heartiest    and    closest    possible    co- 
operation betweem  them  and  prac- 


22 


tical  farmers.  Wherever  there  is  a 
department  or  a  school,  our  law 
requires  that  an  advisory  com- 
mittee of  farmers  shall  be  appointed 
to  advise  with  and  assist  the  ad- 
ministrative officers  and  the  in- 
structors in  charge  of  this  work. 
School  projects  are  important  for 
illustrating  approved  methods  and 
providing  convenient  facilities  for 
group  teaching  in  observational 
and  practice  work;  but  more  and 
more  are  we  emphasizing  home  pro- 
jects, not  merely  because  home 
projects  are  an  aid  to  keeping  the 
study  of  agriculture  from  being  too 
bookish,  but  because  each  project 
generally  becomes  a  demonstration 
in  its  neighborhood  of  a  better 
method  of  farming  than  is  com- 
monly followed  in  that  vicinity, 
and  because  things  done  by  farmers 
on  their  own  farms  are  usually  more 
convincing  to  farmers  as  to  the 
value  of  improved  methods  than 
are  things  done  on  the  premises  of 
a  school. 

President  Waters,  in  the  preface 


to  his  recent  book,  "The  Essentials 
of  Agriculture",  says: 

"  In  no  way  is  it  possible  for 
the  school  to  serve  the  local 
community  more  successfully 
than    through    instruction    in 
agriculture.   This  may  be  best 
accomplished  through  the 
utilization  of  the  facilities  of 
the    neighborhood    as    a    lab- 
oratory.      The    gardens,    or- 
chards,   and   farms,    and,    in- 
deed, the  gardeners  and  farm- 
ers    themselves,     should     be 
utilized  to  the  fullest  extent. 
By  this  means  the  school  and 
the   community   are   brought 
into  the  closest  relations,  and 
there  is  awakened  among  the 
farmers  a  lively  interest  in  the 
work  of  the  school." 
There  is  a   superlative  in  every 
sentence   of    this   statement.      But 
our    experience    in     Massachusetts 
since   the   beginning  of  our  home- 
projects  efforts  in  1908,  leads  us  to 
believe    that   at   every    point   it   is 
fully  warranted. 


23 


©IF 


Agriculture  in  the  Secondary 
of  Michigan 


W.  H.  FRENCH 


American  High 
School  is  a  form  of 
secondary  education 
created  to  meet  the 

, .    demand   of   the   people 

for  a  broader  education  than  the 
elementary  school  affords,  and  in 
its  origin  its  supporters  maintained 
that  it  should  train  the  American 
student  for  the  activities  of  human 
life.  Its  development  has  been 
rapid  in  recent  years  and  today  it 
is  the  most  effective  agency  for 
shaping  the  character  of  American 
life,  both  rural  and  city. 

After  nearly  100  years  of  de- 
velopment we  are  beginning  to  de- 
monstrate that  the  High  School  can 
serve  all  clases  of  people  if  it  is 
properly  organized  and  conducted. 
We  have  long  recognized  the  fact 
that  the  High  School  period  is  the 
formative  period,  but  there  has 
been  a  wide  difference  in  the  ideas 
of  educational  leaders  as  to  what 
constitutes  an  education  and  what 
should  be  the  content  of  educa- 
tional training.  We  are  now  mov- 
ing rapidly  in  the  direction  of 
industrial  training,  that  is,  we 
are  introducing  into  High  School 
courses  both  the  theory  and  the 
practice  of  certain  vocations  on  the 
ground,  first,  that  the  High  Schools 
should  assist  the  student  in  finding 
out  what  he  likes  to  do,  or  what  he 
may  desire  to  do  in  the  near  future. 
Second,  by  making  the  work  actual, 
that  is,  the  student  performs  an 
industrial  project  on  a  commercial 
basis,  thus  developing  skill  and  at 
the  same  time  defining  the  term 
"profits". 


If  these  courses  are  to  be  any 
more  than  a  "mere  job"  the  school 
must  give  the  student  a  carefully 
planned  course  of  development,  as 
far  as  possible  adapted  to  needs  and 
ability,  and  at  the  same  time  in- 
clude such  subjects  as  will  give  a 
vision  of  future  possibilities.  All  will 
probably  agree  that  the  means  and 
methods  of  education  should  enable 
the  boy  to  get  a  purpose  in  life,  if 
possible,  before  he  leaves  the  High 
School,  and  the  subjects  taught  the 
boy  should  be  such  as  will  be  val- 
uable to  him  mentally,  morally, 
and  vocationally. 

In  Michigan  the  work  of  intro- 
ducing agricultural  courses  in  sec- 
ondary schools  was  begun  in  1 908. 
We  have  a  law  permitting  the  intro- 
duction of  such  courses,  but  the 
State  does  not  give  special  financial 
aid  to  the  schools  which  intro- 
duce them.  The  courses  have 
been  introduced  under  the  di- 
rection of  the  Department  of  Ag- 
ricultural Education  of  the  Agri- 
cultural College,  and  as  rapidly  as 
school  Superintendents  and  Boards 
of  Education  could  be  convinced 
of  their  utility.  In  the  beginning 
of  this  work  it  was  nescesary  to  in- 
form the  people  of  the  plans  and 
purposes  of  such  courses  and  to 
solicit  their  aid  in  carrying  out  the 
line  of  instruction  proposed.  Public 
interest  has  been  slowly  growing 
and  gathering  in  force. 

The   plan   for   the   Michigan   High 
School  is  as  follows: — 

1 .  The  course  in  Agriculture 
consists  of  four  units,  or  one  unit 


24 


in   each   year   of   the   High   School 
period. 

2.  The  subjects  for  each  year 
are  as  follows: — 9th  year — Ele- 
mentary Science  and  Botany,  10th 
year — Farm  Crops  and  Horticul- 
ture, 1  1  th  year — Animal  Husbandry 
and  Feeding,  12th  year — Soils  and 
Fertilizers,  Farm  management,  and 
Farm  Mechanics. 

This  plan  permits  the  students 
to  take  the  subjects  as  one  of  the 
elective  High  School  subjects  thru 
the  High  School  course,  and  also 
permits  special  students  to  enter 


the  same,  and  these  projects  are 
worked  as  nearly  as  possible  under 
actual  farm  conditions  and  for  the 
purpose  of  either  experiment  or  of 
demostration  for  profit.  The  pic- 
ture given  herewith  shows  one  pro- 
ject undertaken  by  a  group  of  boys, 
which  was  the  building  of  a  wire 
fence  on  a  farm  near  the  city.  In 
this  case  the  owner  furnisheed  the 
material  and  the  students  did  the 
work  at  a  price  agreed  upon.  An- 
other picture  shows  the  students 
at  work  on  a  job  of  farm  leveling, 
preparatory  to  drainage.  Another 
picture  shows  a  group  of  children 


the  school  and  take  all  the  agricul- 
tural work  in  one  or  two  years,  as 
they  may  desire.  The  students  in 
each  year  pursues  text  book  and 
laboratory  work  which  is  prepara- 
tory to  the  performances  of  project 
work  during  the  summer  season. 
These  projects  are  worked  out  for 
city  boys  on  plots  of  ground  with- 
in or  near  the  city  rented  for  the 
purpose.  The  farm  boys  work  out 
their  projects  on  the  home  farm. 

The  schools  have  a  uniform  plan 
of  developing  the  project  work  and 
for  reports  from  the  students  upon 


in  the  grades  working  out  a  project 
in  gardening.  These  gardens  were 
individual  affairs  but  all  grouped 
on  the  same  plot  of  ground.  An- 
other picture  shows  a  group  of 
boys  in  a  village  engaged  in 
a  project  of  cleaning  up  the  back- 
yards and  alleys.  While  this  is  not 
strictly  an  agricultural  project,  it 
was  a  community  project  requiring 
labor,  skill,  and  tact.  Many  more 
illustrations  might  be  given. 

Many  of  the  boys  are  engaged 
in  raising  potatoes,  corn,  beans, 
taking  charge  of  a  small  dairy  herd, 


25 


,Y  Off1  ALPHA 


or  raising  a  litter  of  pigs.  One  young 
man  undertook  the  care  of  all  the 
farm  machinery  for  the  season,  in- 
cluding gas  engine  and  spraying 
apparatus.  Thus,  it  will  be  seen 
that  such  courses  afford  an  oppor- 
tunity to  introduce  the  young  men 
to  the  usual  work  of  the  farm  from 
a  new  viewpoint  and  with  a  scien- 
tific purpose.  The  aim  of  this  in- 
struction is  not  merely  to  train  the 
young  man  to  do  the  work  more 
successfully  but  to  develop  in  him 
the  highest  possible  ideals  of  efficien- 
cy and,  therefore,  of  individual  and 


agricultural  work  and  in  this  de- 
partment the  instructor  in  Agri- 
culture is  supreme.  The  laboratory 
is  fitted  up  with  suitable  file  cases, 
tables,  water  supply,  and  such  ap- 
paratus as  is  recommended  by  the 
Department  of  Agricultural  Ed- 
ucation for  the  instruction.  In  this 
laboratory  will  usually  be  found 
displays  of  farm  products,  farm 
machinery,  seeds,  grains,  and  gras- 
ses, for  the  use  of  the  student.  The 
picture  (page  25)  shows  a  corner  in 
one  of  these  laboratories.  About 
twenty-five  other  High  Schools 


STRETCHING    THE    FENCE HIGH    SCHOOL    CLASS    IN    AGRICULTURE,    MICH. 


community  happiness.  The  co- 
operative working  out  of  a  project 
affords  one  of  the  best  possible 
means  of  developing  the  community 
spirit. 

At  the  present  time  we  have 
fifty  High  Schools  giving  the  four 
year  course  in  Agriculture.  The 
school  furnishes  usually  a  special 
laboratory  or  laboratories  for  the 


are  giving  some  instruction  in  Ag- 
riculture but  without  the  special 
teacher. 

The  number  of  students  taking 
these  courses  in  each  school  varies 
from  twenty-five  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty.  The  typical  department  in 
the  medium  sized  High  School 
would  have  about  fifty  students  in 
Botany,  and  about  twenty  in  each 


26 


of  the  other  years  of  the  High 
School,  in  the  agricultural  subjects. 
We  find  that  the  agricultural  sub- 
jects are  freely  elected  by  both 
young  men  and  women. 

In  addition  to  the  instruction  of 
the  High  School  and  the  super- 
vision of  the  project  work,  the  in- 
structor in  Agriculture  becomes  the 
advisor  and  helper  of  the  farmers 
of  the  neighboring  country,  and 
this  constitutes  a  real  form  of  ex- 
tension service  that  is  of  the  utmost 
value,  both  to  the  farmers  and  to 
the  schools.  In  counties  where  an 
Agricultural  Agent  is  employed  the 
High  School  instructor  cooperates 
with,  and  assists  the  County  Agent 
in  giving  instruction  and  in  super- 
vising certain  demonstrations  which 
the  farmers  are  carrying  on. 

This  type  of  work  in  the  sec- 
ondary schools  develops  the  in- 
terest of  the  entire  community,  and 
stimulates  community  spirit  and 
community  development.  We  are 
well  aware  that  this  work  cannot 
always  produce  an  immediate  re- 


volution in  the  agricultural  methods 
of  the  community,  but  we  are 
specifically  aiming  at  the  next  gen- 
eration of  young  farmers  and  their 
successors.  This  field  of  educational 
effort  is  an  inviting  one  to  a  young 
man  trained  in  Agriculture  and 
who  is  willing  to  undertake  the 
work  in  a  community  and  continue 
it  for  a  series  of  years  Students  in 
Agricultural  Colleges  are  gradually 
getting  the  vision  that  secondary 
agriculture  affords  an  opportunity 
for  rare  constructive  work,  and  the 
communities  are  slowly  beginning 
to  recognize  the  vital  relation  which 
the  Public  High  School  bears  to  the 
present  and  future  welfare  of  rural 
life.  The  teacher  of  secondary  ag- 
riculture must  be  a  very  human 
teacher  and  realize  that  his  work 
is  an  humanizing  process.  Also  that 
his  subject  is  the  connecting  link 
between  ordinary  scholastic  train- 
ing and  the  real  activities  of  human 
life,  and  such  opportunities  are 
bound  to  attract  the  virile  young 
men  from  Agricultural  Colleges. 


27 


\  o          "1  ,  °          ,  1  i  "^       I     I  }          f  'f°       1       'C51 

A.;ncxdi;uro  in  the  i  \ibiic  Huh  S 


o        irmeiom 

A.  V.  STORM,  Professor  and  Chief  of  Division  of  Agricultural  Education, 
College  of  Agriculture,  University  of  Minnesota 


There  are  one  hundred  seventy- 
six  high  schools  in  Minnesota,  each 
authorized  by  the  State  High  School 
Board  to  maintain  a  department 
of  agriculture  and  to  receive  state 
aid  therefor  if  the  work  is  ap- 
proved. Only  three  schools  are  in 
towns  of  over  10,000  population. 
Most  of  them  are  in  towns  and 
villages  of  small  population,  sur- 
rounded by  agricultural  conditions. 

State  Aid 

The  aid  received  from  the  State 
is  not  to  exceed  $1 ,000 annually  and 
may  be  less.  If  the  amount  ap- 
propriated by  the  last  session  of  the 
legislature  is  not  sufficient  to  pay 
the  entire  amount  to  each  school 
it  is  prorated  among  the  schools 
maintaining  satisfactory  de- 
partments. In  addition  to  the  state 
aid  received  for  agriculture,  the 
school  may  receive  annual  aid  for 
the  following:  For  a  department  of 
Home  Economics,  $600;  For  a  de- 
partment of  Manual  Training,  $600; 
For  a  department  of  Commercial 
Training,  $600;  For  a  department 
of  Normal  Training,  $1,200;  For 
each  "associated"  rural  school, 
$200;  For  meeting  the  conditions 
of  a  high  school,  $1,800;  (or  for 
meeting  the  conditions  of  a  graded 
school  with  a  high  school  depart- 
ment, $600,  plus  $100  for  each 
teacher  in  excess  of  four  employed 
and  $250  for  each  high  school  teach- 
er employed — the  total  not  to  ex- 
ceed $1,300. 

Under  this  system  it  would  be 
possible  for  a  school  to  receive  the 


following  annual  aid  from  the  state, 
viz: 

Being  a  high  school $1 ,800 

Four  vocational  departments   2,800 
Normal  Training  De- 
partment   1 ,200 

Associated  Rural  Schools.  .  .  .   2,600 

$8,400 

In  addition  to  the  above  there  is 
annual  aid  of  $50  to  each  rural 
school  that  "associates";  and  to  a 
consolidated  school  $500  for  Class 
A  and  $250  to  Class  B,  with  reim- 
bursement for  transportation  up 
to,  but  not  to  exceed  $2,000.  Con- 
solidated districts  providing  new 
school  buildings  are  reimbursed  one 
fourth  of  the  cost  not  to  exceed 
$2,  000. 

Besides  this  there  is  library  aid, 
other  forms  of  special  aid  and  the 
annual  state  apportionment 
amounting  to  nearly  $5.00  per 
scholar. 

Conditions  to  be  Met 

For  the  special  aid  for  agricul- 
ture, application  is  made  in  March, 
the  High  School  Board  designates 
the  school  in  September,  the  in- 
spectors observe  the  school  during 
the  year  and  if  it  is  approved,  the 
aid  is  awarded  in  August. 

If  the  agricultural  instructor 
teaches  any  other  subject  than  ag- 
riculture, the  amount  of  state  aid 
is  diminished  by  the  rate  which  the 
time  spent  on  the  other  subjects 
bears  to  the  length  of  the  school  day. 
Each  school  must  maintain  also  a 
department  of  home  training.  The 


28 


QUARTERLY  OF  AX. 


superintendent  must  supervise  the 
associated  schools  and  the  voca- 
tional instructors  must  visit  each 
at  least  once  each  month,  the  cen- 
tral district  furnishing  the  necessary 
transportation.  All  pupils  in  as- 
sociated districts  are  entitled  to  free 
tuition  in  the  Central  school.  In 
future  the  school  house  of  an  as- 
sociated district  must  be  within 
four  miles  of  the  Central  building. 

The  agricultural  course  of  study 
must  be  as  follows:  At  least  one 
class  for  boys  in  the  seventh  or 
eighth  grade  (or  both)  of  at  least 
two  forty  minute  periods  per  week 
for  a  year.  One  class  of  high  school 
agriculture  for  each  year  the  school 
receives  aid  until  a  three  year  course 
is  provided.  Agronomy  and  Animal 
Husbandry  shall  each  be  given  a 
full  year.  Farm  management,  farm 
mechanics,  soils  and  horticulture 
are  also  recomended.  A  young 
people's  short  course  of  three  months 
shall  be  maintained,  unless  the 
school  be  excused  for  good  reason. 
A  school  plot  of  five  acres  is  re- 
commended. 

The  instructor  must  be  a  grad- 
uate of  a  standard  agricultural  col- 
lege, with  fifteen  semester  hours  of 
professional  preparation,  of  which 
three  must  be  methods  of  teaching 
agriculture  and  three  actual  teach- 
ing under  supervision.  He  must  be 
employed  for  the  full  year  of 
twelve  months  and  must  have  one 
fourth  of  each  school  day  free  from 
regular  school  work  to  utilize  for 
the  short  course  or  extension  work. 
The  summer  months  are  to  be  de- 
voted to  extension  work.  The 
board  must  allow  a  reasonable 
amount  for  transportation 
expenses. 

The  equipment  must  include 
suitable  rooms,  a  good  library, 
facilities  for  preserving  and  display- 
ing products,  apparatus  for  testing 


milk,  soils,  and  seeds.  The  quarters 
must  be  easily  accessible  to  farmers. 

This  rapid  increase  has  brought 
with  it  one  serious  difficulty.  It 
was  absolutely  impossible  in  the 
earlier  years  to  obtain  a  supply  of 
suitably  prepared  teachers.  In 
1912-13  the  first  thirty  schools  I 
visited  contained  agricultural  teach- 
ers from  fifteen  different  states. 
Fortunately,  this  ratio  has  not 
continued.  The  largest  number  of 
men  from  any  state  come  from  the 
Agricultural  College  of  Minnesota; 
over  half  of  them  come  from  Min- 
nesota and  the  States  touching  her 
borders,  and  over  three-fourths 
from  these  states  plus  the  states 
north  of  the  Ohio  and  east  of  the 
Mississippi  rivers. 

Less  than  4%  of  them  come  from 
east  of  Ohio  or  west  of  Nebraska, 
and  practically  all  of  these  came 
in  the  early  years  when  men  were 
very  difficult  to  obtain.  Those 
regions  are  furnishing  none  now. 
The  state  department  has  declined 
to  certificate  men  from  distant  re- 
gions where  agriculture  differs  great- 
ly from  that  found  in  Minnesota, 
because  the  teacher  is  also  a  farm 
advisor  for  his  community  and  must 
have  practical  knowledge  of  local 
agriculture. 

The  quality  of  the  teaching  force 
is  improving.  Most  of  the  men  are 
strong,  virile,  practical  men  for 
whom  Minnesota  conditions  have 
an  attraction.  The  twelve  months 
year,  part  time  for  extension  service 
of  a  practical  nature,  the  winter 
short  course,  the  special  equipment, 
limiting  his  teaching  to  agricultural 
subjects,  and  a  reasonable  salary 
have  drawn  here  a  better  group  of 
men  than  could  possibly  have  been 
obtained  had  agriculture  been  in- 
troduced into  the  high  schools  on 
the  conventional  academic  basis. 


30 


Another  important  influence  in 
improving  the  teaching  personnel 
is  the  selection  of  new  county  agents 
from  the  high  school  agricultural 
teachers  who  have  demonstrated 
their  ability  through  their  high 
school  extension  work.  Having  dis- 
covered that  they  run  very  little 
risk  in  appointing  as  county  agent 
a  man  who  has  shown  signal  ability 
in  his  high  school  community  work, 
Minnesota  and  many  other  western 
states  have  adopted  the  policy  of 
taking  practically  all  of  their  county 
agents  from  the  ranks  of  the  high 
school  agricultural  teachers.  With- 
out looking  the  matter  up,  I  recall 
that  recently  the  states  of  Min- 
nesota, Montana,  North  Dakota, 
Kansas,  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  Illinois 
and  New  York  have  offered  county 
agencies  to  men  teaching  agricul- 
ture in  Minnesota  high  schools. 

Extension  Work 

The  rules  recognize  and  encourage 
extension  work,  and  it  is  usually 
approved  by  the  superintendent, 
the  board  and  the  business  man. 
With  one-fourth  or  more  of  each 
school  day  and  all  Saturdays,  even- 
ings, and  summer  months  available 
for  community  service,  with  trans- 
portation furnished  by  the  district, 
augmented  frequently  by  the  autos 
and  teams  of  the  business  men, 
and  farmers,  and  with  the  co-oper- 
ation of  the  business  men,  farmers 
and  both  city  and  county  super- 
intendent of  schools  the  agricultural 
teacher  of  ability  has  been  able  to  do 
a  large  amount  of  vital  extension 
work. 

Farmers'  clubs,  cow  testing  as- 
sociations, live  stock  shipping  as- 
sociations, potato  growers'  asso- 
ciations, silo  clubs,  crop  breeding 
associations,  alfalfa  clubs,  live  stock 
improvement  clubs  and  similar  or- 
ganizations come  rapidly  into  ex- 


istence. Contests,  fairs,  lectures, 
and  demonstrations  in  country 
school  houses  or  churches,  village 
halls,  and  residences  were  held. 
Testing  seed  corn  and  other  seeds, 
clearing  land,  cleaning  seeds, 
spraying  orchards,  testing  cattle 
for  tuberculosis,  testing  milk  for 
fat  content,  judging  stock,  con- 
structing silos,  surveying,  ditching, 
tiling,  roadbuilding,  farm  planning, 
as  well  as  planning  barns,  houses, 
water  supply,  heating,  ventilating, 
and  lighting  systems  have  spread 
over  the  state  from  these  schools 
as  centers. 

Transportation  for  Extension  Work. 
The  means  used  for  transpor- 
tation in  extension  work  include 
auto,  motor  cycle,  bicycle,  horse 
and  buggy.  Ownership  is  in  the 
district,  the  teacher  or  the  livery. 
If  in  the  livery,  the  district  pays 
the  bills,  if  in  the  teacher  the  board 
pays  him  mileage  (from  5  cents 
to  1 5  cents  per  mile,  according  to 
agreement)  or  a  flat  sum  per  annum 
from  small  amounts  to  $300,  and 
if  in  the  district  the  expense  is  borne 
by  the  district.  The  most  satisfac- 
tory plan  seems  to  be  ownership  of 
an  auto  by  the  teacher,  the  dis- 
trict paying  him  a  lump  sum  or 
mileage. 

The  School  Plot 

From  the  beginning  in  1909 
until  the  present  school  year,  cer- 
tain schools  were  required  to  main- 
tain a  plot  of  ground  for  the  use  of 
the  school,  containing  not  less  than 
5  acres.  At  the  present  time  no  school 
is  compelled  to  maintain  a  plot  but 
all  are  advised  to  do  so.  Many 
not  originally  required  to  maintain 
plots  did  so  voluntarily  and  con- 
tinue to  do  so.  With  no  experience 
nor  precedents  many  errors  were 
made  in  the  early  use  of  the  school 
plot.  Slowly  the  schools  are  dis- 


31 


tinguishing  between  what  is  sound 
and  what  is  unsound  use  of  the 
school  plot;  also  that  what  is  wise 
in  one  part  of  the  state  is  not 
necessarily  wise  in  another.  They 
have  learned  that  a  school  plot 
cannot  be  a  "farm"  but  is  an 
outdoor  laboratory;  that  it  should 
be  used  primarily  for  teaching 
the  school  students  and  only 
secondarily  to  teach  adults;  that 
it  should  return  an  educational 
profit  and  not  necessarily  a  financial 
profit  (any  more  than  any  other 
laboratory);  that  in  no  sense  is  it 


school  plot  is  much  needed  to  de- 
velop proper  home  gardening;  that 
the  growth  of  good  seed  is  a  valu- 
able use  of  the  school  plot  in  some 
neighborhoods;  and  many  other 
valuable  truths. 

Of  the  147  agricultural  high 
schools  last  year  78  reported  having 
plots  though  only  half  that  number 
were  required  to  do  so  by  law.  Of 
the  57  furnishing  data  on  income 
and  expenditure  only  24  reported 
the  expenditures  more  than  the  in- 
come which  is  remarkable  since 


BOYS      PROJECTS,    MINN. 


an  experimental  plot;  that  many 
things  tried  on  the  school  plot  are 
better  carried  on  as  co-operative 
demonstrations  on  the  neighboring 
farms;  that  if  the  class  room  teach- 
ing of  agriculture  is  to  be  real  and 
vital  the  teacher  must  have  a  piece 
of  ground  where  the  theories  of  the 
class  room  can  be  actualized;  that 
through  the  school  plot  ground  may 
be  furnished  to  those  pupils  who 
have  none  at  home;  that  a  sample 
home  garden  exemplified  on  the 


financial   profit   is   not  a   great   de- 
sideratum. 

The  Project 

Beside  those,  the  school  plot, 
the  class  teaching  and  the  extension 
work  have  been  promoted  by  pro- 
jects on  the  farms  of  the  pupils' 
parents  or  of  other  farmers.  The 
production  of  seed  grains;  the  in- 
troduction of  new  crops  or  varie- 
ties; methods  of  cultivation  or  of 
treatment;  systems  of  farm  manage- 


32 


,  aai-s 


ment  including  records  are  a  few 
of  the  ways  in  which  the  agricul- 
tural teacher  has  used  the  project, 
not  to  mention  the  large  amount 
of  work  done  with  boys  and  girls 
clubs,  contests,  fairs  and  shows. 
Minnesota  has  a  national  reputa- 
tion for  the  work  done  in  boys  and 
girls  clubs  and  the  agricultural 
teachers  have  assisted  in  creating 
it.  "Project"  is  a  very  indefinite 
term  in  these  days.  The  popularity 
of  the  new  term  has  caused  it  to 
be  used  to  cover  a  multitude  of 
very  loosely  organized  efforts.  It 
is  a  far  cry  from  the  fully  wrought 
out  and  closely  supervised  project 
work  of  Massachusetts  to  the  non- 
supervised  "contest"  of  many  other 
localities.  So  far  as  the  schools  of 
Minnesota  have  promoted  projects 
they  have  gone  to  neither  extreme. 
Schools  have  reported  projects 
on  the  school  plot  as  follows:  De- 
monstration, 69;  pure  seed  produc- 
tion, 55;  production  of  laboratory 
material,  44;  variety  tests,  37; 
school  gardens,  25;  fertilizer  tests, 
22.  In  addition  there  are  large 
numbers  of  home  projects  carried 
on  by  pupils. 

The  Three  Month  Short  Course 

The  statute  and  the  rules  re- 
quire each  school  to  maintain  a 
three  months  short  course  for  those 
who  cannot  attend  school  during 
the  remainder  of  the  year.  These 
are  held  from  December  first  to 
March  first  at  the  school  but  in 
rooms  separate  from  the  other 
pupils.  The  daily  hours  are  shorter, 
beginning  later  and  closing  earlier 
than  the  regular  schools.  Persons 
who  are  not  attending  regular 
schools  are  urged  to  attend  even 
tho  beyond  the  maximum  school 
age.  The  work  given  is  very  prac- 
tical and  is  intended  for  immediate 
use  on  the  farm.  It  includes  agri- 


culture, farm  arithmetic,  farm 
woodwork  and  iron  work,  farm 
english,  farm  civics,  farm  account- 
ing and  farm  business.  Text  books 
are  not  largely  relied  upon,  but 
real  things  and  conditions  are 
studied.  The  short  course  has  been 
of  great  value  not  only  for  the 
direct  good  done  to  those  who  at- 
tend but  also  the  regular  students 
by  its  influence  in  making  their 
courses  more  practical. 

The  Preparation  of  Teachers 

The  College  of  Agriculture  offers 
facilities  for  the  preparation  of  ag- 
ricultural high  school  teachers.  En- 
trance requirements  are  the  same 
as  the  most  exacting  colleges  of  the 
University — full  four  years  in  an 
accredited  high  school.  A  full 
four  years  college  course  is  re- 
quired, including  fifteen  hours  in 
professional  subjects  such  as  Princi- 
ples of  industrial  education  (3) 
history  of  industrial  education  (3), 
Psychology  (3),  Methods  of  teach- 
ing Agriculture  (3)  Actual  teaching 
of  Agriculture  under  supervision 
(3),  Organizing  and  managing  Ag- 
riculture in  a  Minnesota  High 
School  (3),  the  last  three  courses 
being  required.  The  supervised 
teaching  is  done  in  the  school  of 
Agriculture  of  the  University,  the 
public  high  and  graded  schools  of 
Minneapolis  and  nearby  cities  and 
towns  and  the  country  schools 
near  University  Farms.  The  num- 
ber of  college  students  electing  this 
work  has  increased  with  striking 
rapidity  since  the  department  was 
organized  less  than  three  years  ago. 
Nearly  a  year  ago  this  division  had 
the  second  largest  number  of  Sen- 
iors who  had  chosen  this  depart- 
ment for  specialization  of  any  of 
the  eight  lines  of  specialization 
offered  in  the  college,  altho  it  was 
the  youngest  division  organized. 


33 


AVfn 


Agilcuiltui 


n  Moimtiimm  1  [I gib 

C.  A.   BUSH 


GRICULTURE  is  being 
taught  at  present  in 
five  high  schools  in 
Montana,  these  being 
the  Flathead  County 
High  School,  Fergus  County 
High  School,  Beaverhead  County 
High  School,  and  the  High  Schools 
at  Belt  and  Victor.  Perhaps  of  the 
schools  teaching  this  subject  the 
earliest  were  the  Flathead  and 
Beaverhead  Schools.  Within  the 
last  year  the  subject  has  been  added 
at  the  Fergus,  Belt  and  Victor 
schools. 

The  State  can  boast  of  no  reg- 
ular Agricultural  High  Schools  as 
yet,  altho  the  Legislative  Assembly 
voted  $5000  to  establish  an  Ex- 
periment Station  and  Agricultural 
High  School  on  the  Old  Fort  As- 
sinaboine  Farm  in  northern  Mon- 
tana. Only  the  Experiment  Station 
was  established  last  year  and  the 
school  will  be  started  when  more 
funds  are  appropriated.  The  teach- 
ing of  Agriculture  is  not  made  com- 
pulsory in  any  way  in  Montana, 
nor  is  it  assisted  by  legislation. 

The  Flathead  School  is  reputed 
to  be  a  little  in  the  lead  of  the  other 
schools  in  the  line  of  Agriculture. 
The  subject  was  added  as  a  one 
year  course  six  years  ago.  For  three 
years  only  a  one  year  course  was 
taught,  but  in  the  fall  of  1912  the 
present  instructor  started  to  build 
up  a  four  year  course.  At  present 
three  years  of  the  course  are  in 
operation  and  the  fourth  will  be 
added  next  year. 

In  the  first  year  the  subjects  of 
Soil  and  Field  Crops  are  studied, 
in  the  second,  Animal  Husbandry 
and  Dairying,  in  the  third  Agricul- 


tural Engineering  and  Fruit  Grow- 
ing and  in  the  fourth  Farm  Manage- 
ment and  Agricultural  Economics. 
The  above  subjects  along  with  the 
general  High  School  subjects  in- 
cluding four  years  of  Manual  Train- 
ing entitle  the  student  to  graduate 
from  the  agricultural  course.  Prac- 
tically the  same  course  has  also  been 
adopted  at  the  Fergus  School. 

In  the  fall  of  1913  a  short  course 
for  farm  boys  was  started  for  those 
who  had  finished  the  eighth  grade 
but  for  various  reasons  had  not 
entered  high  school.  These  boys 
are  in  attendance  from  November 
first  till  March  fifteenth  and  at 
present  both  the  beginning  class 
and  second  year  class  are  attending. 
In  the  first  year  the  subjects  of 
Soils  and  Crops,  Manual  Training 
Farm  Arithmetic  and  English  are 
taken  up  while  the  second  year 
boys  study  Dairying,  Carpentry, 
Mathematics  and  English.  The 
girls  taking  the  Normal  Training 
course  and  preparing  to  teach  in 
the  Rural  Schools  are  turned  over 
to  the  department  for  one  semester 
when  they  are  given  a  course  in 
Agriculture  for  the  rural  schools. 

At  present  six  classes  in  Agri- 
culture meet  daily  which  requires 
the  time  of  the  regular  instructor 
and  part  of  the  time  of  the  State 
Agent  in  Dairying,  F.  M.  Hillman, 
who  teaches  the  two  classes  in 
dairying. 

All  classes  recite  three  times  each 
week  and  have  two  double  labora- 
tory periods,  also  some  special  home 
project  is  required  of  each  student 
during  the  summer  following  the 
year's  work;  such  project  must  be 
completed  and  reported  upon  before 


34 


JXTIflS, 


credit  is  given  for  the  class  work. 

For  three  years  the  Annual  Farm- 
ers short  course  has  been  held  dur- 
ing the  holidays  with  an  attendance 
as  high  as  400  farmers  and  farm 
women.  Work  in  home  Economics 
is  also  given  at  this  time.  Speakers 
for  these  events  are  secured  from 
the  State  College,  Department  of 
Agriculture,  and  other  sources. 

The  department  aims  to  make 
itself  useful  to  the  farming  com- 
munity and  succeeds  in  doing  so 
by  performing  all  manner  of  ser- 


liminary  surveys  have  been  run 
to  ascertain  the  advisability  of 
draining  or  irrigating  certain  tracts. 
By  acting  as  a  medium  for  the 
State  College  variety  rests  have 
been  made  on  a  large  number  of 
crops.  Other  co-operative  tests 
have  been  carried  on  with  farmers 
such  as  fertilizer  tests,  and  test  of 
new  crops.  Milk  has  been  tested 
for  farmers  at  the  rate  of  nearly  a 
sample  for  every  school  day  and 
co-operative  herd  records  have  been 
started  in  many  cases.  Up  to  March 


SURVEYING    FOR    IRRIGATION,    FARM     ENGINEERING  CLAfS,    MONTANA    HIGH    SCHOOL 


vice  in  its  power.  The  classes  have 
surveyed  and  planned  three  ir- 
rigation systems,  which  are  now 
in  successful  operation.  They 
have  built  an  Ames  Hulling  and 
Scaufying  Machine,  which  is  in- 
stalled in  the  school  where  farmers 
bring  their  sweet  clover  seed  to  be 
treated  at  a  nominal  charge.  This 
machine  has  increased  the  germi- 
nation of  samples  by  1  5%. 

The  Engineering  class  is  now 
constructing  a  concrete  corrugated 
roller  for  a  farmer.  Several  pre- 


first  of  this  spring  one  hundred 
thirteen  samples  of  seed  had  been 
tested  for  germination  and  purity. 
Many  samples  of  soil  have  been 
sent  to  the  State  College  for  an- 
alysis and  many  simpler  tests  made 
at  the  school.  With  the  aid  of  the 
College  soil  chemist,  special  soil 
problems  are  being  worked  out. 

In  all  this  work  the  State  College 
has  always  met  the  school  more 
than  half  way  and  it  is  believed  the 
county  has  secured  a  greater  pro- 


35 


JS^T,, 


portion  of  the  good  things  the  Col- 
lege has  to  offer. 

Contests  have  been  inaugurated, 
such  as  an  acre  yield  contest  on 
potatoes  and  corn,  the  winners  of 
which  attended  free  to  themselves 
the  Annual  short  course  at  the 
State  College  this  year. 

The  Animal  Husbandry  class 
have  set  an  incubator,  part  of  the 
hatch  of  which  will  be  divided 
among  the  class  to  take  home  and 
after  raising  exhibit  at  the  County 


ments  were  given.  A  class  of  rural 
teachers  come  to  the  High  School 
on  Saturday  to  study  Agriculture 
with  the  instructor  and  by  co-opera- 
tion with  theCounty  Superintendent 
simple  exercises  in  Agriculture  are 
supplied  the  employed  teachers  and 
other  things  done  to  help  along 
the  teaching  of  Agriculture  in  the 
Rural  Schools. 

An  Advisory  Board  of  nine 
leading  farmers  meet  twice  yearly 
to  advise  with  the  department, 


PUKITY    ANALYSIS,     FARM    CROPS    CLASS,     MONTANA    HIGH    SCHOOL 


Fair  where  prizes  have  been  offered 
by  the  poultry  association.  The 
balance  will  make  up  the  flock 
which  will  furnish  eggs  and  meat 
for  the  school  dormitory. 

The  department  for  two  years 
has  managed  a  sort  of  Lyceum 
system  of  entertainments  which  are 
given  in  rural  schools,  making  use 
of  any  free  talent  including  talks 
on  rural  problems  illustrated  by 
lantern  slides  of  local  views,  also 
made  by  the  department.  Last 
year  thirty-eight  such  entertain- 


making  suggestions  and  review  the 
work  done.  Farmers  are  coming  to 
rely  on  the  school  and  only  a  few 
days  ago  six  farmers  called  on  the 
department  concerning  various  sub- 
jects. It  is  safe  to  say  there  are 
more  calls  from  farmers  than  there 
are  school  days  in  the  year. 

Boards  of  Education  act  wisely 
in  putting  Agriculture  into  the 
course  where  over  half  the  students 
are  from  the  farms;  yet  the  work 
which  the  High  Schools  are  capable 
of  doing  along  this  line  will  never 


be  reached  so  long  as  vocational 
work  is  cramped  into  the  old  daily 
programs  of  the  classical  studies. 
Changes  must  come  to  accom- 
modate these  vocational  subjects 
as  they  still  fit  like  square  plugs  in 
round  holes  in  the  old  order  of 
things. 

Teaching  Agriculture  in  a  high 
school  offers  exceptional  opportuni- 
ties for  the  Agricultural  college  grad- 


uate, in  that  there  is  the  chance  and 
incentive  for  a  little  deeper  study, 
a  sort  of  a  review  of  work  taken 
in  college.  If  the  teacher  keeps 
properly  connected  with  the  farm- 
ers of  the  county,  there  is  a  fine 
chance  to  settle  down  to  the  proper 
perspective  of  things.  To  get  the 
farmers  viewpoint  is  what  many 
Agricultural  workers  need  badly. 


37 


QU 


,Y  OF  ALPHA  Z1STA 


C1 


N 


w 


fork 


L.  S.  HAWKINS 


OR  many  years  the  New 
York  State  Education 
Department  has  recog- 
nized agriculture  as  a 
proper  subject  for  school 
study  and  ten  years  have  passed 
since  the  first  outline  of  a  course 
in  agriculture  was  included  in  the 
courses  of  study  for  secondary 
schools.  Not  until  1910,  however, 
was  there  any  provision  made  for 
instruction  of  a  vocational  nature. 
At  this  time  the  legislature  enacted 
a  law  authorizing  the  Commisioner 
of  Education  to  apportion  public 
money  for  the  partial  support  of 
schools  of  agriculture,  mechanic 
arts  and  homemaking.  In  1913  this 
law  was  amended  to  its  present 
form.  The  following  briefs  indicate 
the  main  provisions  of  the  original 
law  and  amendments. 

Schools  of  Agriculture,  Mechanic 
Arts  and  Homemaking. 

LAW  1910 

1 .  Such  schools  may   be  estab- 
lished in  union  free  school  districts 
when     authorized     by     a     district 
meeting. 

2.  Such  schools  are  to  be  under 
the  direction  of  the  authorities  that 
have  charge  of  other  public  schools 
of  the  district. 

3.  The  Commisioner  of  Educa- 
tion shall  annually  apportion  $500 
for   the  first   teacher  and  $200  for 
each    additional    teacher    provided. 

(a)  Such     teacher    devotes    his 
work  exclusively  to  such  school. 

(b)  Such  school  is  independently 
organized. 


(c)  Such   school   has   an   enroll- 
ment of  at  least  25  pupils. 

(d)  Such     school     maintains     a 
course   of   study   approved    by    the 
Commissioner   of    Education. 

4.  All  money  so  apportioned 
is  to  be  used  exclusively  for  sup- 
port and  maintenance  of  such 
school. 

AMENDMENTS  OF  1913 

1 .  Such    schools   may  be  estab- 
lished in  union  free  school  districts 
or  in  common  school  districts  when 
authorized    by    a    district    meeting. 

2.  No  change. 

3.  The  Commissioner  of  Educa- 
tion shall  annually  apportion  a  sum 
equal    to    two-thirds    the   salary   of 
the  first  teacher  and  one-third  the 
salary   of   each   additional    teacher, 
also  $200  additional  if  such  teacher 
is  employed  for  the  full  year  (in- 
cludes summer  vacation)   provided 

(a)  No  change. 

(b)  Such   school  may   be  a   de- 
partment  or   course   of   instruction 
established    and    maintained    in    a 
public  school. 

(c)  Such   school   has   an   enroll- 
ment of  at  least  1  5  pupils. 

(d)  Such    school    maintains    an 
organization  and  a  course  of  study 
and  is  conducted  in  a  manner  ap- 
proved by  him. 

4.  All     money    so     apportioned 
is    to   be   used   exclusively    for    the 
payment  of  the  salaries  of  the  teach- 
er. 

The  amendments  of  1913  do  not 
change  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  original  law  but  give  to  them 


38 


LTSRX.Y  OF  AL 


increased  effectiveness.  The  re- 
duction of  the  required  number  of 
pupils  from  twenty-five  to  fifteen 
enables  a  school  to  start  the  work 
without  overcrowding  the  classes, 
encourages  the  smaller  schools  to 
undertake  this  instruction  and  gives 
opportunity  for  the  schools  to  make 
the  work  really  vocational  without 
fear  of  reducing  the  enrolled  number 
below  the  requirement.  This  last 
point  is  especially  significant  as  a 
great  effort  is  being  made  to  have 
pupils  who  wish  to  study  agriculture, 
give  enough  time  to  it  and  continue 
its  study  for  a  period  sufficient  to 
make  it  worth  while. 

The  change  from  a  fixed  ap- 
portionment for  each  teacher  to  a 
fractional  apportionment  based  on 
the  salaries  of  the  teachers,  en- 
courages the  local  authorities  to 
secure  better  teachers  and  once 
having  secured  them,  to  grant  rea- 
sonable yearly  increases. 

The  provision  for  an  additional 
apportionment  to  each  school  which 
contracts  with  the  teacher  for  an 
entire  year,  makes  possible  an  ef- 
fective teaching  plan. 

Thus  far  sixty-four  school  dis- 
tricts have  availed  themselves  of 
the  provisions  of  this  law  and  pre- 
sent conditions  indicate  that  event- 
ually nearly  all  of  the  rural  high 
schools  will  be  giving  instruction 
in  agriculture. 

Fully  as  important  as  the  number 
of  schools  taking  up  this  work,  is  the 
type  of  instruction  given.  The  plan 
of  organization  provides  that  about 
one-half  the  pupil's  time  during 
the  four  years  shall  be  given  to  the 
study  of  agriculture,  and  the  other 
half  to  English,  history  and  mathe- 
matics. Since  agriculture  deals  with 
concrete  material  and  is  to  a  great 
extent  objective,  much  of  the  time 
given  to  this  subject  is  spent  in  the 
field  and  laboratory,  connecting  in 


as  many  ways  as  possible  everyday 
objects  and  occcurrenes  with  the 
general  principles  of  science.  For 
this  purpose  the  barns,  machinery, 
herds,  flocks,  fields  and  crops  of 
neighboring  farmers  are  usually 
accessible  and  available.  Each 
school  also  has  a  shop  for  general 
construction  and  repair  work  in 
wood  and  iron,  a  laboratory  equipped 
to  carry  on  demonstrations  and  ex- 
periments necessary  for  an  under- 
standing of  the  underlying  science, 
and  a  library  of  books  and  bulletins 
dealing  with  the  best  science  and 
practice.  Each  school  includes  in 
the  work  of  four  years,  something 
of  wood  and  iron  construction, 
poultry  husbandry,  agronomy,  fruit 
growing,  animal  husbandry  dairy- 
ing, and  farm  machinery  and  farm 
management;  but  the  amount  of 
time  given  to  each  branch,  and  the 
phases  emphasized  depend,  to  a 
large  extent,  upon  local  conditions. 
In  any  case  the  availability 
of  concrete  material  determines  the 
sequence  of  topics;  hence,  in  some 
lines  the  season  determines  the  order 
of  topics  for  the  greater  part  of  the 
year.  In  scope,  the  high  school 
work  confines  itself  to  accepted 
facts,  or  to  general  practices  where 
experimental  data  is  insufficient  to 
clearly  establish  facts. 

Although  great  emphasis  is  placed 
on  concrete  class  instruction,  this, 
by  itself,  does  not  go  far  enough. 
In  order  that  a  boy  may  really  fix 
his  knowledge  of  poultry  husbandry, 
it  is  necessary  for  him  to  engage 
in  the  poultry  business.  In  order 
that  he  may  gather  together  his 
knowledge  of  agronomy  it  is  nec- 
essary for  him  to  grow  a  crop  and 
that  in  accordance  with  what  he 
has  learned  about  crop  production. 
Incidentally,  in  this  way  he  gets 
much  information  about  the  subject 
which  he  never  could  get  from  class, 


40 


JUNE,  191S 


laboratory  or  books.  With  these 
ends  in  view  each  pupil  is  required 
to  carry  on  at  home  a  project  in 
that  line  of  agriculture  which  he 
is  studying  in  school  each  year. 
About  the  first  of  March  the  time 
given  to  general  instruction  is  great- 
ly reduced  and  each  pupil  works  on 
the  plans  for  his  project  so  that, 
when  the  time  comes  to  launch  his 
enterprise,  he  has  a  definite  course 
of  procedure.  From  the  time  the 
project  starts,  the  pupil  keeps  ac- 
curate accounts  of  all  income  and 
expenditure,  including  his  own  time, 
and  at  the  end  analyzes  his  own 
business.  Parents  are  also  interested 
in  the  project.  The  boy  and  the 
teacher  consult  with  them  from  the 
beginning.  The  teacher  explains  to 
the  parents  that  these  schools  of 
agriculture  are  conducted  on  the 
principle  that  there  are  still  ed- 
ucational opportunities  at  home  and 
that  the  school,  in  order  to  perform 
its  functions  properly,  must  make 
use  of  those  opportunities.  The 
father  must  be  in  sympathy  with 
the  idea  that  the  school  and  home 
need  to  work  hand  in  hand  to  offer 
the  best  educational  advantages 
to  the  boy.  Besides  the  educational 
value  to  the  boy,  the  home  project 
plan  gives  to  the  teacher  a  better 
idea  both  of  the  home  conditions 
of  particular  boys  and  of  the  general 
farming  conditions  of  the  com- 
munity. It  helps  to  keep  his  teach- 
ing within  the  realms  of  possibility. 

In  order  that  the  teacher  of  ag- 
riculture may  be  available  to  super- 
vise the  projects  during  this  summer 
months,  the  Commissioner  of  Edu- 
cation is  authorized  to  apportion 
two  hundred  dollars  to  each  school 
district  which  extends  the  contract 
with  said  teacher  to  cover  the  full 
year.  Although  supervision  of  home 
projects  is  the  primary  business  of 
the  teacher  during  the  summer 


period,  he  also  has  opportunity  to 
collect  materials  and  make  plans 
for  the  work  of  the  coming  school 
year.  He  becomes  better  acquainted 
with  the  farmers  and  the  farming 
of  the  community  and  finds  many 
opportunities  of  letting  the  people 
know  what  the  school  is  doing,  and 
can  do,  for  them. 

Besides  the  classroom  instruction 
and  the  supervision  of  the  home 
projects  of  boys  regularly  enrolled 
in  a  four-year  course  in  agriculture, 
there  are  other  activities  carried 
on  by  these  schools.  Short  courses 
of  two  to  three  months  in  length 
are  conducted  for  those  who  for  any 
reason  are  prevented  from  attending 
the  regular  course.  A  few  of  the 
schools  offer  evening  instruction. 
Week  extension  schools  from  Cor- 
nell have  been  held  at  several  of 
these  schools.  Many  of  the  teachers 
supervise  the  projects  of  the  boys 
and  girls  during  the  summer. 

Although  the  extension  field  is 
broad  and  affords  plenty  of  room 
for  many  agencies,  it  is  generally 
conceded  that  in  order  to  secure  the 
best  results  for  the  energy  expended 
it  is  best  for  all  such  agencies  to  act 
in  cooperation.  The  county  farm 
bureau  is  at  present  the  logical  cen- 
ter for  cooperation.  These  schools 
are  now  working  in  close  coopera- 
tion with  the  county  agents.  Ten  of 
the  present  Farm  Bureau  Agents 
are  former  teachers,  and  thoroughly 
understand  the  possibilities  of  the 
teacher's  acting  as  local  agent.  The 
teacher  in  visiting  farmers  to  arrange 
for  field  demonstrations,  and  in 
visiting  the  homes  of  pupils  to 
assist  them  with  the  projects,  be- 
comes well  acquainted  with  a  num- 
ber of  farmers.  It  is  but  natural 
they  should  ask  him  for  advice  and 
assistance.  If  he  cannot  help  them, 
he  directs  them  to  the  proper 
sources  for  help.  Last  year  school 


41 


spray  pumps  were  used  on  more 
than  five  thousand  trees,  one  school 
alone  spraying  over  twelve  hundred. 
The  milk  from  nearly  five  hundred 
cows  was  tested  in  school  testers. 
In  these  and  many  other  ways  the 
school  is  beginning  to  function  in 
the  life  of  the  community.  There 
are  certain  points  which  should  be 
noted  as  characteristic  of  these  de- 
partments or  schools: 

(1)  They  are  universal  in  the 
sense  that  any  school  district  may 
establish  one. 


(4)  At  least  one  trained  teacher 
must   give   his   whole    time    to    the 
work. 

(5)  The  work  continues  whether 
or  not  school  is  in  session. 

(6)  The   school    and    the    home 
are  joined  in  an  educational  enter- 
prise. 

(7)  The  instruction  is  suited  to 
the  local  community. 

Hannibal  is  a  little  hamlet  boast- 
ing a  population  of  432.  It  is  not  a 
peculiar  community — not  an  un- 


VOCATIONAL-ASEICUETURE 

-IN- 

NEW  YORK  ST20B 


LITTLE  VALLEY 


M»MMOMO»PO«r 


*«••! 


...tu. 


HIGH  -SCHOOLS-  IN  -WHICH 
FOU£- YE A£- COURSES  •  HAVE:  •  BEEN 
-ESTABLISHED- 


MIOOUTOWN 


(2)  A   department   may   be   es- 
tablished  only   when   public   senti- 
ment  as   expressed   by   a   majority 
vote  favors  it. 

(3)  Although  the  State  aids  in 
the  support  of  the  school,  the  com- 
munity must  pay  its  share. 


usual  community.  It  is  like  hund- 
reds of  other  localities  of  New  York 
State,  each  of  which  has  its  own  spe- 
cial conditions  and  opportunities. 
It  has,  however,  had  the  unusual  ad- 
vantage of  rearing  in  its  midst  and 
retaining  as  its  high  school  principal, 


42 


J1JH3B,  1316 


a  man  of  excellent  judgment,  ster- 
ling integrity,  high  ideals,  inex- 
haustable  energy,  wonderful  fore- 
sight and  abounding  enthusiasm. 
Largely  through  his  efforts  the 
school  has  developed  from  an  old 
line  classical  institution  with  six 
academic  pupils,  four  teachers,  a 
four  room  building  and  an  annual 
income  of  $87.00  for  non-resident 
tuition  to  "The  Hannibal  Voca- 
tional Schools  for  Leadership  in 
Country  Life"  with  a  registration 
of  90  in  the  academic  department, 
about  one-half  of  whom  are  enrolled 
in  the  agricultural  and  homemaking 
courses,  a  staff  of  ten  teachers,  an 
annual  tuition  income  of  $1300  and 
a  ten  room  building  besides  the  two 
room  agricultural  and  homemaking 
building,  built  by  the  agricultural 
students  in  1912. 

The  first  class  in  agriculture  was 
orginized  in  1908  with  S.  R.  Lock- 
wood,  the  principal,  as  teacher. 
The  work  grew  and  developed  dur- 
ing the  next  three  years  to  such  an 
extent  that  Hannibal  was  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  first  vocational 
agricultural  schools  organized  under 
the  law  of  1910.  The  homemaking 
work  was  started  one  year  later. 
Of  all  the  pupils  who  have  taken 
the  agricultural  course,  74%  are 
now  living  in  the  country  and  26% 
in  the  city.  In  the  seven  year  period 


from  1901-1908,  of  all  the  graduates 
81%  are  now  in  the  city  and  19% 
in  the  country,  while  of  the  suc- 
ceeding seven  year  period  1  909-  1915, 
of  all  graduates,  50%  are  now  in 
in  the  country. 


the  city  and  50% 


Alumni 

1901-1908 
1909-1915 
Agriculture  boys 
1908-1915 


Percentages  now 

found  in 
City       Country 


81 
50 

26 


19 
50 

74 


This  figures  plainly  show  that 
this  school  is  really  educating  for 
the  open  country.  For  miles  around 
the  farmers  look  upon  this  school 
as  the  source  of  agricultural  in- 
formation. A  lecture  course  (in- 
cluding field  demonstrations)  is  one 
of  the  features  of  the  school.  The 
lecturers  are  successful  farmers  from 
the  neighborhood  and  the  demon- 
strations are  on  the  home  farms. 
Mr.  Lockwood,  the  principal  and 
teacher  of  agriculture,  lives  about 
three  miles  from  the  school  house 
on  his  own  farm  of  twenty-seven 
acres.  He  keeps  a  horse,  two  cows, 
100  hens  and  has  150  apple,  200 
cherry  and  250  pear  trees.  He  is  a 
successful  farmer  and  a  successful 
teacher.  This  community  stands 
as  a  monument  to  his  labors. 


43 


OF  AIL, 


Agriculture  in  the  Secondary  School 
of  North  Dakota 

WILLIAM  A.   BROYLES 

Principal  Walsh  County  Agricultural  and  Training  School 
Park  River,  North  Dakota 


HE  State  of  North  Da- 
kota is  essentially  a  rural 
state.  There  is  no  town 
of  thirty  thousand.  Most 
of  the  county  seats  are 
mere  villages.  There  is  scarcely  any 
manufacturing.  It  is  all  farming. 
The  Red  River  Valley  of  the  North, 
in  spite  of  thirty-five  years  of  culti- 
vation, still  will  raise  wheat  and 
wheat  is  still  the  leading  crop.  On 
the  "slope",  west  of  the  Missouri 
diversified  farming  is  of  necessity, 
more  common. 

The  population  of  North  Dakota 
is  largely  made  up  of  patches.  In 
Walsh  county,  for  example,  are 
settlements  of  French,  Bohemians, 
Icelanders,  Swedes,  Poles,  Syrians, 
while  the  great  bulk  of  the  popula- 
tion is  Norwegian.  North  Dakota 
has  been  a  treasure  house  for  the 
immigrant.  She  has  endowed  him 
richly  with  free  land  and  after  a 
decade  or  so  he  has  the  power  of 
wealth.  The  agricultural  training 
for  North  Dakota  youth  at  this 
time  should  be  fitted  for  land- 
owners, actual  or  would-be. 

Agriculture  is  a  recognized  sub- 
ject in  the  laws  and  curricula  of 
North  Dakota  schools.  The  law 
provides  that  it  be  taught  in  all 
rural  schools.  But  so  many  subjects 
have  been  incorporated  in  the  course 
of  study  by  statute,  such  as  physical 
education,  kindness  to  animals,  that 
the  burden  is  a  great  deal  for  un- 
trained teachers.  Many  teachers 
if  they  teach  agriculture  at  all  make 
it  a  mere  textbook  matter.  The 


law  will  no  doubt  work  out  in  time 
so  that  agriculture  shall  be  taught 
in  the  schools  where  it  is  most  val- 
uable and  nearest  to  the  people. 
The  industrial  contests  directed  by 
county  superintendents  include  acre 
yields  of  corn  competitions  and 
contests  in  butter  making.  Canning 
club  work  is  also  planned  in  several 
counties  for  this  season. 

In  the  high  schools  a  peculiar 
condition  exists.  Technically  speak- 
ing there  are  five  schools  in  the 
state  designated  by  law  as  "high 
schools  maintaining  an  agricultural 
department."  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  however,  the  larger  high 
schools  of  the  state  quite  generally 
teach  agriculture.  Larimore,  Devils' 
Lake,  Jamestown,  have  school 
farms;  Grand  Forks  has  just  in- 
troduced the  department  last  year. 
The  law  of  1911  provided  that  any 
high  school  suitably  located  and 
housed  might  qualify  as  a  high 
school  maintaining  a  department 
of  agriculture.  There  was  to  be 
but  one  in  a  county,  the  high  school 
was  to  maintain  a  winter  short 
course,  to  cultivate  ten  acres  of 
ground,  employ  teachers  in  agri- 
culture, domestic  science  and  man- 
ual training,  and  for  these  quali- 
fications was  to  receive  from  the 
state  a  yearly  subsidy  of  $2500. 
Five  high  schools,  located  at  Beach, 
Velva,  Carrington,  La  Moure  and 
Grafton,  immediately  qualified  for 
the  subsidy,  but  the  number  has 
never  been  added  to  for  reasons  of 
economy.  Meanwhile,  during  the 


44 


JUNE,  ISIS 


five  years,  the  pressure  for  industrial 
subjects  became  strong  enough  so 
that  the  more  aggresive  high  schools 
of  the  state  have  put  in  the  depart- 
ment of  agriculture,  without  wait- 
ing for  the  state  aid.  Short  winter 
courses  are  offered  in  a  number  of 
high  schools  and  the  high  schools 
often  carry  on  a  series  of  meetings 
in  the  rural  schools  nearest  the  town 
where  the  high  school  is  laocted. 
The  course  of  study  provides  for 
Farm  Crops  and  Horticulture  in 


sentation,  including  as  it  does, — 
building  construction,  road  con- 
struction, concrete,  power  machin- 
ery and  farm  implements.  These 
things  cannot  be  brought  into  the 
ordinary  school  room  and  the  course 
is  not  of  much  value  unless  the 
objects  are  at  hand.  The  work  in 
Farm  Animals  seems  to  be  rather 
universally  popular.  Dairying  is 
hard  to  present  concretely,  but  the 
subject  has  been  worth  while  if  only 
to  introduce  the  Babcock  tester  to 


WALSH    COUNTY    AGRICULTURAL    AND    TRAINING    SCHOOL,    PARK    RIVER,   N.  D. 


the  first  year,  farm  animals  and 
dairying  in  the  second,  rural  en- 
gineering and  soils  in  the  third  and 
Farm  Managemet  and  County-Life 
Problems  in  the  fourth.  Of  these, 
farm  crops  is  the  most  easily  pre- 
sented. The  experiment  plots  are 
used  to  raise  samples  for  class  room 
use  and  the  equipment  and  samples 
require  little  care  and  expense.  Of 
all  these  required  subjects  rural  en- 
gineering is  the  most  difficult  of  pre- 


the  people  of  the  state.  The  use  of 
this  machine  is  such  a  convenient 
form  of  demonstration  for  rural 
meetings,  that  it  promises  to  become 
familiar. 

The  amount  of  state  aid  ($2500) 
for  high  schools  maintaing  agri- 
cultural departments  was  seemingly 
little  enough  for  offsetting  the  ad- 
ditional expenses,  if  the  equipment 
and  instruction  was  to  be  adequate. 
The  high  school  committee  of  the 


45 


State  Board  of  Education,  how- 
ever, in  the  paragraph  of  the  report 
dealing  with  the  Five  Schools,  said, 
"The  Committe,  however,  feels 
that  there  is  much  work  to  be  done 
in  this  field  and  that  the  demon- 
stration offered  does  not  recommend 
the  extension  of  the  plan  at  pre- 
sent." 

Some  harm  has  no  doubt  been 
done  in  all  secondary  schools  which 
have  undertaken  vocational  work 
by  undertaking  instruction  which 
called  for  more  equipment,  smaller 


time  and  grows  out  of  the  unfamil- 
iarity  of  executives  with  the  re- 
quirements of  actual  performance. 

Besides  the  high  schools  with  ag- 
ricultural departments,  there  are 
two  separate  agricultural  schools 
in  North  Dakota.  The  first  of  these 
was  established  in  1913,  in  Walsh 
County;  the  second,  the  following 
year,  in  Benson  County.  These 
schools  were  established  not  as  a 
substitution  for  any  existing  school, 
nor  as  an  addition  to  any  system 
existing.  They  are  addditional  to 


*. 


PLANTING   THREE   HUNDRED   TREES ORCHARD  AND   ORNAMENTAL,   PARK   RIVER,   N.   D. 


classes  and  more  teaching  force 
than  was  available.  For  example, 
one  school  advertised  forge  work 
for  all  boys  in  the  winter  short 
course.  Investigation  showed  that 
the  only  equipment  was  the  use  of 
one  hand-blown  forge  and  anvil  sev- 
eral blocks  from  the  school.  Another 
school  printed  an  elegant  "exten- 
sion" bulletin  announcing  services 
which  the  faculty  were  utterly  un- 
prepared to  render.  This  difficulty 
will  pass  away  with  a  little  more 


all  schools  previously  existing,  and 
are  intended  to  serve  as  centers  for 
rural  life  discussions.  The  county  is 
made  the  unit  for  their  support. 
The  state  aid  is  only  $3000  yearly 
and  the  community  establishing 
them  must  furnish  grounds,  build- 
ings, and  maintain  a  complete 
course  of  instruction. 

Funds  were  raised  largely  by  pri- 
vate subscriptions  for  these  schools. 
The  Benson  County  institution  has 
forty  acres  of  ground,  while  the 


46 


Walsh  school  has  but  1  T/i  acres. 
Plans  for  barns  and  stock  are  in- 
cluded in  the  aims  of  the  school,  but 
so  far  the  principal  part  of  the  ex- 
penditure for  equipment  has  been 
for  machinery  and  appliances  inside 
the  building,  such  as  forge  shop, 
power  saws  and  lathes.  The  Walsh 
County  school  has  a  second  build- 
ing, a  small  frame  affair  in  which  the 
classes  in  rural  engineering  are 
housed. 


located  in  the  same  village  with  us, 
show  consistent  growth. 

These  students  board  and  room 
in  the  homes  nearby  and  a  dormi- 
tory is  an  urgent  necessity.  To 
meet  this  condition  in  some  measure, 
we  have  turned  the  school  building 
into  a  social  center,  where  the  stu- 
dents spend  their  evenings  and 
Saturdays.  The  domestic  science 
department  serves  a  lunch  daily  at 
1  5c  and  the  school  building  is  almost 


BUTCHERING   DEMONSTRATION   CONDUCTED  WITHOUT  OUTSIDE  HELP.  PARK  RIVER,  N.D. 


I  have  been  head  of  the  Walsh 
County  School  since  its  establish- 
ment. The  personnel  of  the  student 
body  is  very  high.  While  rural,  they 
are  not  poverty  stricken,  for  there 
are  practically  no  poor  people  in 
North  Dakota.  They  are  ambitious 
to  learn  music,  art,  sewing  and 
machinery.  They  are  not  so  am- 
bitious in  literary  lines.  We  enrolled 
this  year  one  hundred  twenty  stu- 
dents and  at  the  same  time  the  high 
schools  of  the  county,  even  the  one 


a  home.  Classes  close  at  four,  but 
students  make  no  concerted  de- 
parture; they  find  their  greatest 
interest  in  the  school  itself. 

The  tree  planting  and  plot  cul- 
tivation is  of  great  interest  in  the 
spring.  The  work  in  agriculture  is 
much  the  same  as  in  the  agricul- 
tural high  schools  of  the  state,  ex- 
cept that  the  work  in  rural  engine- 
ering is  more  exclusively  a  machin- 
ery course.  Building  construction 
is  given  in  the  carpentry  course. 


47 


The  extension  work  of  the  school  is 
rather  inclusive,  but  this  work  is  a 
matter  of  much  time  and  money. 
The  Better  Farming  agent  is  partly 
supported  by  the  school  and  he  has 
his  office  in  the  building.  During 
the  winter  months  he  teaches  in  the 
shops. 

The  prospects  for  further  state 
aid  for  high  schools  maintaining 
departments  of  agriculture  are  very 
poor.  The  County  Agricultural 
Schools  shared  in  the  action  of  the 
action  of  the  last  Legislature  which 
wiped  out  the  mill  tax  and  ap- 
propriated instead,  a  lump  sum  to 
meet  the  state  aid  for  the  two 
schools  established.  This  has  op- 
erated to  discourage  further  es- 


tablishment of  these  schools  also. 
My  own  hope,  however,  is  very 
strong  that  the  need  for  agricultural 
instruction  in  the  rural  schools,  vil- 
lage schools  and  whatever  form  of 
larger  unit  schools  the  consolidation 
movement  may  take  is  already  an 
assured  fact.  The  difficulties  in  the 
way  are  mostly  those  of  finance  and 
of  intelligent  supervision.  With  the 
growth  of  population  and  the  em- 
ergency of  educators  trained  in  the 
newer  aspects  of  rural  life  and  edu- 
ucation,  schooling  in  agricultural 
districts  will  unconsciously  become 
redirected,  so  that  the  adjective 
"agricultural"  will  no  longer  need 
to  be  prefixed  to  the  word  education, 
but  will  be  taken  for  granted. 


ffiT 


48 


Agriculture  in  New  Hampshire 

High  Schools 

GEO.  H.  WHITCHER 
Deputy  State  Superintendent 


EW  Hampshire  has  been 
very  fortunate  with  re- 
spect to  thedevelopment 
of  the  new  Practical  Art 
Education  Courses  that 
now  parallels  the  old  Liberal  Art 
Courses  in  nearly  seventy  percent 
of  our  existing  High  Schools,  be- 
cause of  the  fact  that  there  has  been 
no  State  Aid  or  other  over-stimulat- 
ing Agencies  employed. 

Doubtless  such  aid  would  have 
extended  this  work  more  rapidly, 
but  it  most  likely  would  have  been 
a  mushroom  growth  fluctuating  and 
in  many  ways  unstable,  and  on  the 
whole  less  desirable  than  the  pre- 
sent naturally  adjusted  develop- 
ment. Such  growth  as  has  resulted, 
and  it  is  by  no  means  insignificant, 
has  been  based  upon  a  genuine  de- 
mand, the  State  Department  of 
Public  Instruction  of  course  point- 
ing out  at  all  times  the  need,  and 
rendering  personal  assistance  when- 
ever there  has  been  evidence  of  a 
local  desire  for  improvement  in  a 
school  system. 

In  considering  the  few  statistics 
given,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
New  Hampshire  is  a  small  state 
having  a  population  of  only  430,000, 
a  public  school  enrollment  of  64,000. 
Our  total  number  of  High  Schools 
is  only  89. 

Among  these  eighty-nine,  twenty- 
seven  or  over  30%  have  full  fledged 
four  years  courses  in  Agriculture; 
fifty  or  nearly  54%  have  equally 
comprehensive  courses  in  Domestic 
Arts;  38  or  40%  have  four  years 
courses  in  the  Commercial  Arts,  and 


eight  (8)  have  very  strong  Mechanic 
Art  Courses.  Cumulatively  this 
means  that  out  of  eighty-nine  (89) 
high  schools,  sixty-four  (64)  or  al- 
most 72%  have  from  one  to  three 
Practical  Art  Courses.  This  indi- 
cates better  than  pages  of  argument 
can  do,  that  New  Hampshire  sec- 
ondary schools  are  making  large  use 
of  the  practical  activities  of  the 
human  race,  as  means  whereby  boys 
and  girls  in  early  and  mid  adoles- 
cence are  being  physically,  mental- 
ly and  morally  nurtured  to  meet  the 
ever  increasing  demands  of  home 
and  community  life.  One-fifth  of 
these  sixty-four  schools  offer  three 
Practical  Art  Courses  each. 

I  have  said  that  the  state  gives 
no  aid,  meaning  direct  financial  aid. 
Not  a  dollar  is  available  to  any 
town  for  special  encouragement, 
either  in  way  of  salaries,  equipment 
or  supplies,  other  than  is  available 
for  any  and  all  courses,  liberal  or 
practical.  The  state  did,  however, 
in  1913  establish  a  Deputyship  in 
the  Department  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion, whereby  one  man's  time  is 
given  to  inspection  and  supervision 
of,  and  suggestions  relative  to  all 
Practical  Art  Courses. 

Agriculture 

It  is  not  yet  ten  years  since  the 
first  course  in  agriculture  was  es- 
tablished in  a  New  Hampshire  sec- 
ondary school,  and  naturally  enough 
this  is  the  only  school  where  such 
a  course  once  established  has  failed. 
The  failure  however,  was  due  wholly 
to  local  mismanagement.  In  every 


49 


other  instance  agriculture  once 
started,  has  continued  as  an  impor- 
tant, often  a  dominant  part  of  the 
school  efforts. 

Looking  over  the  list  of  twenty- 
seven  schools  where  real  agricultural 
courses  exist,  one  is  impressed  with 
this  fact:  namely,  that  thirteen  (13) 
of  these  are  typical  old  New  Eng- 
land Academies  saved  to  us  from 
an  earlier  order  of  things  before  the 
days  of  free  High  Schools. 


their  doors  towards  the  home  and 
farm.  There  is  no  conflict  here  be- 
tween the  Liberal  Art  Pupils  look- 
ing towards  the  so-calledT  "learned 
profession"  and  the  Practical  Art 
Pupils  looking  towards  the  basic  in- 
dustries upon  which  all  human  so- 
ciety rests;  side  by  side  each  group 
by  rubbing  elbows  gains  advantage 
from  the  other. 

The  general  type  of  the  Agricul- 
tural Curriculum  is  the  same  for  all 


DOING  THEIR  OWN  WORK.ANTRIM,  N.  H. 


This  is  a  significant  fact  for  it 
shows  as  nothing  else  does,  the  ten- 
dency of  education  today,  to  minis- 
ter to  the  every-day  needs  of  every- 
body, rather  than  as  of  old  to  pro- 
vide special  mental  equipment  for 
a  selected  few.  Today  these  vener- 
able treasure-houses  of  the  past, 
these  centers  of  a  limited  distribu- 
tion of  traditional  education,  these 
proudly  superior  conservers  of  an- 
cestral literatures  have  opened  their 
windows  towards  the  East,  and 


of  these  schools.  Ten  periods  per 
week  for  four  years  are  given  to  dis- 
tinctively agricultural  topics,  the 
balance  of  the  curriculum  is  in  gen- 
eral coincident  with  some  other 
course  or  courses  offered  in  the 
same  school.  That  this  is  a  more 
or  less  tentative  plan  is  evi- 
denced by  a  commendable  ten- 
dency to  make  the  mathematics 
of  Agricultural  Course  grow  out  of 
land  surveying  or  other  practical 
farm  measurements,  or  to  develop 


50 


a  type  of  bookeeping  suited  to  the 
needs  of  the  farm.  History  too  is 
beginning  to  deal  with  an  industrial 
background  and  civics  shows  signs 
of  centering  more  closely  around 
local  requirements.  There  are 
schools  managed  by  two  teachers 
and  others  having  five  times  that 
number,  and  there  are  schools  in 
villages  of  200  to  500  population, 
and  others  in  centers  ten  times  as 
large.  There  are  also  schools  where 
every  pupil  in  Agriculture  has  a 


boys  to  whom  an  Agricultural  Cur- 
riculum with  its  applied  physical, 
chemical  and  biological  sciences 
would  not  only  be  attractive,  but 
would  unquestionably  offer  the  most 
sane  and  effective  line  of  approach 
that  the  teacher  could  possibly 
follow. 

Plan  of  New  Hampshire  Agricultural 
Courses 

Three    simple,    direct    principles 
dominate,  namely,  (a)  that  the  ap- 


EXHIBIT  AT   TOWN    FAIR,   HOPKINTON,    N.   H. 


farm  up-bringing  and  an  occasional 
class  in  some  schools  is  made  up  of 
pupils,  90f "•(  of  whom  have  had  no 
farm  experience. 

There  is  probably  not  a  single 
High  School  in  the  State,  however, 
that  might  not  advantageously  add 
an  Agricultural  Curriculum  to  its 
existing  courses,  for,  from  a  ped- 
agogical point  of  view  there  are, 
even  in  our  largest  manufacturing 
centers,  a  considerable  number  of 


plications  of  science  must  be  first 
experienced  by  the  early  and  mida- 
dolescent  pupil  if  his  later  scientific 
generalizations  are  to  have  maxi- 
mum meaning  and  value.  This 
means  school  and  home  and  pro- 
jects in  every  line  of  work,  garden 
and  field  crops,  orchards  and  small 
fruits,  live  stock  for  breeding  and 
feeding,  actual  productions,  har- 
vesting and  marketing,  (b)  That 
simple  fundamental  processes  with 


51 


A'f, 


tools  that  involve  elementary  prin- 
ciples must  precede  the  more  re- 
cent complex  tools  and  processes,  if 
the  pupil  is  to  aquire  a  large  ability 
to  adapt  himself  to  whatever  con- 
ditions he  may  later  encounter. 
This  means  plowing,  harrowing, 
planting  and  cultivating.  It  means 
working  with  hand  tools  on  wood 
and  iron.  It  means  propagating 
plants  by  all  practical  methods, 
building  hen-houses,  swine  houses, 
ice-houses,  dairy-rooms,  remodeling 
stables,  laying  concrete  walks  and 
erecting  concrete  walls,  (c)  That 
"Habit  tends  to  destroy  the  very 
plasticity  which  gave  it  birth."  Un- 
der this  there  must  be  an  avoidance 
of  the  fatal  fallacy  of  working  for  pre- 
cision and  skill  at  a  time  when  nerve 
and  muscle  demands  the  widest  pos- 
sible varity  of  activity  in  order  that 
a  maximum  of  cortex  functional- 
ization  may  result. 

Some     Typical    Agricultural    High 

School  Work 

It  is  impossible  within  the  limits 
set  to  more   than  suggest  what  is 


being  done.  The  few  photographs 
reproduced  are  selected  from  scores 
of  equally  significant  ones.  No  one 
school  is  best  in  all  lines.  A  small 
school  at  Alton  enabled  four  Jun- 
iors to  earn  $215,  by  pruning  or- 
chards and  this  before  and  after 
school  sessions  and  on  holidays. 
The  school  at  Antrim  teaches  boys 
to  plow  by  plowing  (See  cut)  and 
to  harvest  potatoes  by  very  prac- 
tical work. 

The  project  work  at  the  Hopkin- 
ton  High  School  is  noteworthy.  At 
this  same  school  during  the  winter  of 
1914-15  a  series  of  home  projects  in 
poultry  feeding  accompanied  by 
marketing  of  products  proved  of  high 
educational  as  well  as,  economic 
value,  in  addition  to  these  the  fact 
that  two  boys  from  this  school  went 
home  and  commenced  a  complete 
re-organization  of  the  home  farm, 
shows  that  this  kind  of  school  work 
does  function  immediately  in  an  im- 
provement of  Agricultural  practice. 


52 


Vocmlloem!  Agrieiiiltaral  Edbeatlon 
m  Pemnisylvama 

L.   H.  DENNIS 
Director  of  Agricultural  Education 


r  the  head  of  all  sciences 
and  arts,  at  the  head  of 
civilization  and  pro- 
gress, stands — not  mili- 
tarism, the  science  that 
kills,  not  commerce,  the  art  that 
accumulates  wealth — but  agricul- 
ture, the  mother  of  all  industry, 
and  the  maintainer  of  human  life." 
Pennsylvania  has  been  making 
rapid  strides  recently  in  the  de- 
velopment of  its  public  educational 
system.  Not  only  has  much  been 
accomplished  but  many  compre- 
hensive plans  are  now  being  put 
into  operation,  which  will  very 
materially  increase  the  efficiency  of 
our  school  system.  The  passage  of 
the  School  Code  in  1911  marked 
the  beginning  of  many  important 
developments  in  this  State.  The 
codifying  of  the  school  laws  was  in 
itself  of  great  value  and  importance. 
The  publicity  thereby  given  to 
some  features  of  the  school  system 
has  also  proved  to  be  of  great  value 
in  producing  public  sentiment  for 
some  of  the  movements  since  un- 
dertaken. 

This  State  has  provided  in  a  very 
definite  way  for  the  building  up  of 
a  permanent  State  School  Fund 
which  will  eventually  prove  of  in- 
estimable value  to  the  people  of  the 
Commonwealth  in  the  management 
of  the  schools.  The  State  Board  of 
Education  has  been  empowered  to 
use  certain  funds  in  the  equalizing 
of  educational  advantages  in  the 
State.  It  is  also  charged  with  the 
inspection  and  approval  or  rejection 
of  new  school  buildings,  there  being 


a  requirement  in  the  School  Code 
covering  the  heating,  lighting,  and 
ventilation  of  school  buildings.  A 
great  many  new  school  buildings 
have  been  built  during  the  past 
three  years.  Among  them  are  a 
number  of  attractive  and  exception- 
ally well  planned  high  school  build- 
ings, costing  from  $50.000  to  over 
half  a  million  dollars  each.  The 
State  seems  to  be  enjoying  at  the 
present  time  an  epidemic  of  school 
house  erection.  The  improved  phys- 
ical conditions  thereby  resulting 
are  having  a  beneficial  influence  on 
other  phases  of  school  administra- 
tion. School  gardens  are  being  es- 
tablished in  towns  and  cities  all 
over  the  State  and  a  great  deal  of 
attention  is  being  given  to  the  ac- 
quiring and  equipping  of  school 
play  grounds,  which  in  most  cases 
are  open  and  supervised  all  summer 
long.  Another  important  step  is  the 
purchase  by  the  State  through  the 
State  Board  of  Education  of  the 
State  Normal  Schools  of  the  State. 

In  the  State  of  Pennsylvania 
there  are  many  large  industrial  cen- 
ters. Very  naturally  therefore,  there 
have  sprung  up  in  these  centers  in- 
dustrial and  trade  schools  of  various 
kinds.  The  Legislature  of  1915  pas- 
sed .one  of  the  most  significant  ed- 
ucational acts  of  recent  years,  the 
Child  Labor  Law.  As  a  result  of 
this  law  children  between  the  ages 
of  fourteen  and  sixteen  years  are 
being  provided  with  continuation 
schools  and  their  hours  of  labor  re- 
duced. 

Progressive  development  in  pub- 


53 


*Tm^ 


lie  education  has  not  been  confined  to 
the  city  schools  alone,  as  the  rural  dis- 
tricts of  Pennsylvania  have  awak- 
ened to  the  new  possibilities  within 
the  public  school  plant.  There  has 
been  a  marked  awakening  of  public 
spirit.  Community  meetings  are 
being  held  in  many  rural  centers. 
In  some  cases,  the  whole  county  has 
been  organized  by  communities. 
Parent-Teacher  Associations  have 
been  organized  and  have  been  in- 
strumental in  creating  public  sen- 
timent in  the  interests  of  progressive 
education.  The  consolidation  of 
rural  schools  has  already  become 
a  movement  of  considerable  pro- 
portions and  a  large  number  of  dis- 
tricts are  planning  to  consolidate 
next  year.  In  several  cases,  auto- 
hacks  are  used  for  the  transporta- 
tion of  pupils. 

One  of  the  most  significant  moves 
has  been  the  introduction  of  agri- 
culture in  the  public  schools.  Ed- 
ucators and  patrons  have  realized 
that  the  whole  spirit  of  the  country 
school  has  been  such  as  to  educate 
away  from  the  farm  toward  the  life 
of  the  city.  The  introduction  of  ag- 
riculture as  a  public  school  subject 
has  helped  very  materially  to  crys- 
tallize the  movement  toward  revital- 
izing the  curriculum  of  the  rural 
school.  By  means  of  agricultural 
instruction,  the  boy  of  the  farm  can 
be  educated  in  terms  of  his  en- 
vironment. He  can  be  prepared  in 
a  very  specific  manner  for  that  en- 
vironment in  which  he  finds  him- 
self and  for  the  life  on  the  farm 
which  he  expects  to  follow. 

The  school  Code  of  1911  made 
the  teaching  of  agriculture  in  town- 
ship high  schools  obligatory.  In 
these  high  schools  agriculture  was 
at  first  taught  as  one  subject  among 
many  in  a  crowded  curriculum. 
Possibly  the  most  important  result 
of  the  introduction  of  this  subject 


in  our  high  schools  was  the  fact 
that  it  proved  conclusively  the  need 
for  more  efficient  training  along  ag- 
ricultural lines  in  the  secondary 
schools  of  the  open  country.  As  a 
result  of  this  aroused  public  senti- 
ment, agricultural  education  on  a  vo- 
cational basis  was  authorized  by  the 
Legislature  of  1913,  which  passed 
an  Act  known  as  the  Vocational 
Education  Act.  This  Act  provided 
for  Special  State  Aid  for  school  dis- 
tricts maintaining  approved  Voca- 
tional Departments  of  Agriculture 
in  high  schools  and  for  special  Vo- 
cational Schools  offering  courses  in 
agriculture  and  home  making.  The 
development  of  this  work  is  in 
charge  of  the  Bureau  of  Vocational 
Education  of  the  Department  of 
Public  Instruction,  acting  as  the 
agents  of  the  State  Board  of  educa- 
tion. 

Where  a  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture is  established  in  connection 
with  an  existing  high  school,  a 
Supervisor  of  Agriculture  is  em- 
ployed to  take  charge  of  this  work. 
He  devotes  his  entire  time  to  the 
teaching  of  agricultural  subjects. 
He  is  employed  for  twelve  months 
of  the  year.  In  most  of  these  de- 
partments provision  is  made  for  an 
agricultural  laboratory,  a  poultry 
room,  a  dairy  room,  a  woodworking 
shop  and  a  blacksmith  shop.  A 
course  of  study  extending  through 
four  years  is  offered  in  this  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  which  as  a 
course,  is  elective  to  boys  when  they 
enter  the  high  school.  Individual 
subjects  in  the  course  however  are 
not  elective.  The  boys  taking  this 
course  spend  practically  one-half 
of  each  day  in  this  Department,  in 
recitations,  in  the  laboratory,  in 
the  shop,  or  in  the  field  work.  Many 
trips  are  taken  to  the  farms  of  the 
community  for  instruction  and  prac- 
tical work.  The  instruction  in  the 


55 


OF 


woodworking  shop  is  correlated  as 
far  as  possible  with  the  instruction 
given  in  the  various  agricultural 
subjects.  In  connection  with  the 
study  of  poultry  raising,  the  boys 
build  trap  nests,  feed  hoppers,  hov- 
ers, brooders  and  colony  houses. 
Hot  beds  and  cold  frames  are  made 
by  the  class  in  vegetable  gardening. 
Each  boy  taking  the  agricultural 
course  must  each  year  carry  on  an 
approved  agricultural  project.  This 


nected  with  the  tillage  of  the  soil 
and  other  activities  of  the  farm. 
The  Supervisor  of  Agriculture  is  em- 
ployed for  the  entire  year  for  the 
specific  purpose  of  supervising  these 
agricultural  projects  during  the 
summer  months  in  connection  with 
the  other  community  work  carried 
on  by  him.  One  boy  will  take  the 
growing  of  an  acre  of  corn  for  his 
project.  Another  boy  grows  three 
acres  of  potatoes.  One  boy  raised 


.*• 


JUDGING    HORSES,    VOCATIONAL    DEPARTMENT    OF    AGRICULTURE,    PENNSYLVANIA 

HIGH    SCHOOL 


project  work  is  the  connecting  link 
between  the  home  and  the  school 
in  the  boy's  education.  By  means 
of  this  project  work,  which  is  both 
productive  and  educational,  the 
boy's  training  is  carried  on  at  home 
as  well  as  at  school.  It  is  this  prac- 
tical work  with  its  close  correlation 
with  the  work  of  the  class  room, 
laboratory  and  shop  that  makes 
the  work  vocational  in  its  nature, 
as  it  thus  aims  in  a  very  definite  way 
to  prepare  boys  for  occupations  con- 


1  500  tomato  plants.  He  purchased 
two  canning  outfits,  with  which  he 
canned  his  products.  In  addition 
to  canning  tomatoes,  he  canned 
corn,  beans,  and  peas  in  his  spare 
moments.  He  had  his  own  labels 
printed  and  put  upon  the  market 
his  own  brand  of  canned  corn, 
beans,  tomatoes  and  peas.  This  he 
accomplished  at  the  end  of  his  first 
year  in  the  agricultural  course.  He 
learned  much  during  this  summer 
about  the  value  of  labor  and  thrift. 


56 


He  had  few  idle  moments  for  loaf- 
ing. He  gained  some  specific  know- 
ledge concerning  the  raising  and 
canning  of  tomatoes  and  incident- 
ally he  cleared  for  himself  the  nice 
little  profit  of  $130.00,  after  paying 
for  his  canning  outfits  and  all  ex- 
penses in  connection  with  his  pro- 
ject. 

The  project  work  begins  in  the 
class  room  long  before  the  ground 
is  prepared  and  the  seed  sown,  as 


true  sense  of  the  word.  A  new  type 
of  service  is  being  undertaken.  Al- 
though much  has  been  accomplished 
already  along  this  line,  yet  it  is  but 
a  beginning  of  what  is  planned.  The 
Supervisor  of  Agriculture  has  on 
file  in  his  Department,  all  of  the 
available  agricultural  bulletins,  all 
classified  and  arranged  for  ready 
reference.  These  are  frequently 
used  by  the  farmers  of  his  com- 
munity. The  class  in  dairying  with- 


FARMER  S    CLUB HIGH     SCHOOL   DEPARTMENT    OF     AGRICULTURE — PENNSYLVANIA 


each  boy  makes  a  very  definite 
study  in  advance  of  the  project 
which  he  expects  to  undertake.  He 
also  keeps  a  record  of  books  and 
authorities  consulted,  methods  to 
be  used,  receipts,  expenditures, 
labor,  results,  etc.  This  record  in 
itself  is  of  considerable  educational 
value. 

The  new  High  School  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  and  the  Voca- 
tional Agricultural  School  are  pro- 
ving to  be  community  -^hools  in  the 


out  charge  tests  the  milk  of  the  cows 
in  the  farmer's  herd  and  the  class 
in  farm  crops  tests  his  seeds  for  him. 
Farmers'  Night  Schools  have 
been  organized  all  over  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania.  Over  1500  farm- 
ers were  reached  in  one  week  by 
these  night  schools  in  these  voca- 
tional schools  and  departments.  In 
many  cases  the  night  schools  closed 
with  a  two  days'  Farmers'  Insti- 
tute. In  some  instances  the  Farm- 
ers' Institute  closed  with  a  Farm- 


57 


©IF* 


ers'  Banquet.  Where  Departments 
of  Home  Making  were  in  operation 
in  the  school  where  these  meetings 
were  held,  the  girls  provided  the 
meals. 

Those  engaged  in  developing  ag- 
ricultural education  on  a  vocational 
basis  in  Pennsylvania  are  well  aware 
that  this  work  is  as  yet  in  its  infancy 
and  that  there  are  great  possibili- 
ties awaiting  development.  To 
hasten  the  increased  efficiency  of 
this  work  and  for  the  purpose  of 
eliminating  the  weak  spots,  an  An- 
nual Conference  of  all  Vocational 
Supervisors  of  Agriculture  is  held 
at  the  Pennsylvania  State  College 
of  Agriculture  each  year  for  a  period 
of  ten  days.  At  this  conference  ad- 
ministrative problems,  school  or- 
ganization, subject  matter,  project 
work,  community  service  and  other 
problems  are  discussed.  At  this 
time  these  men  are  brought  in  touch 
with  the  leaders  of  agricultural 
thought  in  the  State  and  lines  of 
development  are  determined  upon. 

There  is  a  close  cooperation  be- 
tween the  Farm  Bureau  Agent  and 
the  Vocational  Supervisor  of  Agri- 
culture. The  farm  Bureau  re- 
presentative takes  charge  of  several 
sessions  of  the  Farmers'  Night 
School.  In  arranging  for  a  Farmers ' 
Institute, the  Supervisor  of  Agricul- 
ture at  all  times  consults  the  Farm 
Bureau  man  in  order  that  the  work 
in  his  community  may  be  a  part  of 
the  plan  for  the  county.  The  State 
Department  of  Agriculture  also  co- 
operates in  an  efficient  manner, 
furnishing  speakers  for  many  meet- 
ings. One  of  the  most  encouraging 
signs  in  Pennsylvania  at  the  present 
time  for  the  development  of  Agri- 
culture, is  the  willingness  of  all  ag- 
ricultural leaders  to  cooperate  in 
the  interests  of  agriculture.  Our 
present  Secretary  of  Agriculture, 
Charles,  E.  Patton  and  Dean  R.  L. 


Watts  and  Prof.  M.  S.  McDowell, 
in  charge  of  the  Agricultural  Ex- 
tension Work  of  the  College  are  all 
offering  hearty  cooperation  in  the 
development  of  Vocational  Agri- 
cultural Education.  This  means 
much  for  the  future  of  this  work. 
Our  experience  in  Pennsylvania 
has  been  such  as  to  bring  us  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  success  of  vo- 
cational agricultural  education  in 
each  community  depends  very  larg- 
ely upon  the  type  of  man  selected 
in  each  case.  To  handle  such  a  po- 
sition as  this  successfully,  a  man 
must  have  had  practical  farm  ex- 
perience, a  good  secondary  educa- 
tion and  scientific  training  in  agri- 
culture. This  alone  does  not  insure 
his  success.  He  must  have  the  abil- 
ity of  meeting  people  and  working 
with  them.  He  must  have  a  vision 
of  the  possibilities  of  the  service  he 
can  render  to  his  community.  He 
must  be  a  community  leader  in 
every  sense  of  the  word.  More  is 
probably  expected  and  required  of 
men  who  go  into  this  service  than 
of  any  other  type  of  position  at  the 
present  day.  For  this  reason,  we 
believe  that  the  compensation  of- 
fered should  be  commensurate  to 
the  demands  made  upon  the  men 
undertaking  the  work.  In  fact  the 
market  value  of  men  of  this  type 
is  naturally  high.  Pennsylvania  re- 
cognizes this  fact  and  is  paying  bet- 
ter salaries  for  this  work  than  is 
usually  paid  in  the  teaching  profes- 
sion. Financial  remuneration,  how- 
ever, is  not  the  only  compensation 
for  those  who  enter  this  field  of 
service.  The  opportunities  for  pro- 
fessional advancement  and  personal 
service  should  be  of  great  consider- 
tion  to  young  men  graduating  from 
Agricultural  Colleges.  As  this  work 
developes  in  this  State  this  body  of 
trained  and  skillful  agricultural 
and  community  leaders  will  be- 


58 


aaie; 


come  of  increasing  importance  in 
the  development  of  agricultural  and 
rural  interests  of  the  Common- 
wealth. The  awakened  public  sen- 
timent on  the  part  of  our  rural 


school  directors  and  progressive 
farmers  has  already  clearly  indica- 
ted that  many  of  these  men  will  be 
needed  in  this  State  as  the  work  de- 
velops. 


59 


Development   and   Present   Status 

of  Agriculture  in  Secondary 

Schools  of  Texas 

J.  D.  BLACKWELL 

Associate    Professor    of    Agricultural    Education, 
Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  of  Texas 


HE  development  of  ag- 
riculture in  Texas  can 
be  measured  by  illus- 
trations and  examples 
into  her  States.  As  in 
other  sections  of  the  country,  it  has 
only  been  within  recent  years,  that 
any  rapid  or  definite  progress  has 
characterized  the  development  of 
high  school  agriculture  in  this  State. 
It  was  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
State  Teachers'  Association,  in 
December  1903,  that  the  idea  of 
giving  agricultural  instruction  in 
high  schools,  was  first  agitated  by 
Dean  E.  J.  Kyle,  of  the  Agricultural 
and  Mechanical  College  of  Texas. 
Very  little  thought  had  been  devoted 
to  the  subject,  by  Texas  educators, 
previous  to  this,  and  practically  no 
definite  plans  had  been  formulated. 
It  was  a  layman,  imbued  with  the 
seriousness  of  the  problem,  who  has 
the  distinction  of  being  the  first  man 
to  actually  introduce  the  subject  of 
agriculture  in  the  high  schools  of 
Texas.  Judge  V.  W.  Grubbs,  of 
Greenville,  Texas.  He  conceived 
and  put  into  practice  the  idea  of 
giving  a  series  of  lectures  on  agricul- 
ture to  the  high  school  students  of 
his  city,  and  so  feasible  was  his  plan, 
that  other  schools  in  the  State  began 
to  adopt  the  idea.  Publicity  of  this 
kind  always  attracts  much  atten- 
tion, and  as  a  result  of  Judge 
Grubb's  efforts,  much  interest  in 
the  study  of  the  subject  was 
aroused. 


Sentiment  began  to  spread  rapid- 
ly, so  rapidly,  in  fact,  that  in  1905, 
the  legislature  passed  a  law  requir- 
ing that  agriculture  be  taught  in  the 
schools  of  Texas.  The  insistence  for 
the  work  grew,  and  so  large  became 
the  demand  for  qualified  teachers 
of  agriculture,  that  the  legislature 
passed  another  law,  making  the 
teaching  of  the  subject  compulsory 
in  the  State  Normal  Schools. 

One  of  the  fisrt  definite  steps  in 
placing  the  work  on  a  pedagogical 
basis,  came  when  the  Thirty-Second 
Legislature,  realizing  the  need  of 
financial  assistance  to  the  schools, 
taking  up  the  work,  passed  a  bill 
providing  $100,000  in  the  form  of 
State  Aid  to  schools  teaching  agri- 
culture, manual  training,  and  do- 
mestic science.  By  the  provisions 
of  this  act,  the  State  Board  of  Ed- 
ucation is  authorized  to  duplicate 
the  amount  which  may  vary  from 
$500.00  to  $1 500.00  to  schools  of  the 
first  and  second  class  and  $500.00 
to  $1000.00  to  schools  of  the  third 
class,  so  designated  by  State  in- 
spection, for  the  purpose  of  es- 
tablishing, equipping  and  maintain- 
ing Departments  of  Agriculture. 

Certain  conditions  must  be  met 
before  any  state  aid  of  this  charac- 
ter can  be  secured.  In  the  first  place, 
the  city  Board  of  Education  must 
meet  the  legal  requirements,  as 
specified  by  the  State  Board  of  Ed- 
ucation, including  four  important 
provisions,  to-wit: — the  ownership 


60 


131  £3 


of  three  acres  of  land,  conveniently 
located  and  suitable  for  garden  and 
field  crops;  the  employment  of  a 
teacher  who  has  received  special 
training  in  agriculture;  the  pur- 
chase of  the  required  laboratory, 
field  and  library  equipment;  and 
the  support  of  the  department, 
after  the  State  Aid  is  withdrawn. 
As  the  result  of  the  liberality  of 
the  thirty-third  and  thirty-fourth 
legislatures,  making  the  same  pro- 
visions for  agriculture,  that  were 
made  possible  by  the  thirty-second 
legislature,  approximately  1 50  dif- 
ferent schools  in  the  State,  are  now 
receiving  State  Aid  for  agriculture. 
During  the  year  of  1911-13,  fifty, 
nine  schools  teaching  agriculture- 
received  State  Aid.  There  were  also 
many  schools  teaching  the  subject 


which  did  not  apply  for  assistance. 
At  present,  the  average  value  of 
high  school  agricultural  equipment 
is  approximately  $130.  The  month- 
ly salary  is  approximately  $100.  A 
recent  survey  of  methods  of  work, 
shows  that  the  usual  textbook  is 
supplemented  in  many  cases  by 
inside  laboratory  work,  field  ex- 
periments, individual  gardens,  feed- 
ing experiments,  home  projects, 
caring  for  the  school  grounds,  or- 
ganizations of  boys'  and  girls' 
clubs,  testing  farmers'  products, 
holding  school  fairs,  and  organizing 
school-house  meetings  for  the  par- 
ents. A  report  from  the  Cleburne 
High  School  for  1915  is  suggestive 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  school 
farm  is  being  made  use  of  : — 


Value  on 

Crop                                         Acreage 

Yield              Total  Value      Acre  Basis 

Cotton 

4 

2  bales 

$150.00 

$  37.50 

Corn 

.8 

Roasting  ears 

32.00 

40.00 

Fodder 

6.00 

7.50 

Potatoes 

.4 

100  bushels 

100.00 

250.00 

Feterita,  following  potatoes 

1  ton 

6.00 

15.00 

Feterita 

.5 

3  tons 

18.00 

36.00 

Sudan  grass 

.8 

4.5  tons 

27.00 

33.75 

Peanuts 

.8 

1  .5  tons  hay 

and  nuts 

40.00 

50.00 

Pop  Corn 

.06 

275  pounds 

13.75 

216.25 

Total  acreage 

7.36 

Total  income 

$412.75 

In  addition  to  these  field  crops, 
every  student  in  the  boys'  and 
girls'  agricultural  class  worked  a 
garden  plot  about  45  sq.  yds.  The 
income  from  these  plots  went  to  the 
students,  averaging  $5.00,  or  a  total 
of  $200.00. 

The  expense  of  all  of  this  work 
was  very  small,  since  the  school 
owns  a  team  of  mules,  wagon,  mow- 
ing machine,  cultivator  and  all  the 


other  necessary  implements,  and 
practically  all  of  the  work  is  being 
done  by  the  students. 

At  Yancey,  the  teacher  created 
unusual  interest  in  agriculture  by 
carrying  on  a  feeding  experiment 
with  school  pigs.  Each  member  of 
the  class  selected  a  pig,  weighed  it, 
than  after  feeding  it  a  definite  ra- 
tion for  120  days,  again  weighed 
the  animal  and  estimated  the  profit. 


61 


THE  QUARTERLY  OF  ALPHA  ZETA 


Bishop  High  School  has  the  dis- 
tinction of  being  the  first  to  offer 
school  credit  for  home  project  work. 
By  doing  this,  the  superintendent 
has  brought  about  a  noticeable  co- 
operation between  parent  and 
teacher.  Members  of  the  agricul- 
tural class  at  Gatesville  have  been 
given  the  care  of  a  five  acre  school 
grove,  including  pruning,  spraying, 
cultivation,  etc.  At  Fowlerton, 
students  are  testing  dairy  cows  for 


ing  rural  high  schools,  and  in  better- 
ing general  rural  school  conditions. 
This  bill  provides  $200.00  to  $500.00 
State  Aid  to  schools  with  a  scholas- 
tic population  of  less  than  200, 
which  can  at  the  same  time  satisfy 
other  requirements,  essentially  nec- 
essary to  school  success. 

The  Agricultural  and  Mechanical 
College,  through  the  Department  of 
Agricultural  Education,  and 
through  the  Extension  Service,  is 


TAKING  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  OUT  OF  DOORS TEXAS 


tuberculosis.  Trips  are  made  into 
the  country  on  motorcycles.  At 
Whitt,  a  school  fair  was  recently 
held,  and  50  different  prizes  were 
awarded  contestants.  The  entries 
consisted  of  home,  farm  and  school 
products.  All  over  the  State,  teach- 
ers are  assisting  in  organizing  boys ' 
and  girls'  clubs.  School  house 
meetings  have  been  successfully 
carried  on  by  many  rural  high 
schools  this  year.  Interesting  agri- 
cultural programs  are  given  at  these 
meetings. 

Governor  Ferguson's  Million 
Dollar  Rural  School  Bill  has  lent 
a  strong  incentive  toward  establish- 


assisting  many  secondary  schools. 
In  order  to  meet  the  demand  for 
skilled  teachers  of  agricul- 
ture, courses  are  offered  in  "meth- 
ods of  teaching  agriculture",  in- 
cluding organization  of  subject- 
matter,  lesson  plans,  observation, 
etc.  Directions  for  supervizing 
school  gardens,  fairs,  home  pro- 
jects, and  community  organizations, 
and  the  discussion  of  general  prob- 
lems confronting  the  teacher  of 
agriculture,  is  an  interesting  feature 
of  the  work.  During  the  last  two 
years,  more  than  twenty  graduates 
of  the  college  have  been  placed  in 
high  schools,  at  salaries  ranging 


62 


3.3)21  S 


from  $800.00  to  $1500.00  for  nine 
months.  This  year  there  has  been 
an  unsual  interest  shown  in  the 
work  especially  by  seniors,  and 
twenty  to  thirty  graduates  will  be 
available  for  positions. 

During  the  past  year  teachers' 
institutes  have  been  visited  by 
members  of  the  Department  of  Ag- 
ricultural Education.  At  such  meet- 
ings practical  demonstrations  were 


prises  from  time  to  time.  One  mem- 
ber of  the  department  spends  his 
entire  time  in  the  interest  of  rural 
and  high  school  agriculture,  visiting 
schools,  standardizing  the  work, 
and  organizing  home  projects. 

Correspondence  Courses,  offered 
by  members  of  the  teaching  staff 
of  the  College,  through  this  depart- 
ment, make  it  possible  to  give  agri- 
cultural information  to  many  teach- 


ONE  OF   THE   DEPARTMENTS   RECENT  GRADUATES  STARTING  A  PRACTICAL 
FEEDING  EXPERIMENT TEXAS 


given  in  corn  judging,  milk  testing, 
budding,  etc.,  the  teachers  being 
given  practice  also  in  scoring  and 
judging  live  stock.  As  a  general 
rule,  teachers  are  "getting  into  the 
game"  enthusiastically. 

The  department  has  come  into 
personal  contact  with  a  thousand 
rural  school  teachers,  by  sending 
them  bulletins  and  circular  material, 
giving  directions  for  carrying  on 
home  project  work,  for  organizing 
school  fairs,  and  for  bringing  about 
various  community  school  enter- 


ers  in  the  State.  A  Summer  Normal 
and  Rural  Life  School,  recently 
organized,  offers  opportunities  to 
teachers,  for  acquiring  agricultural 
information. 

While  rapid  strides  have  been 
made  in  the  development  of  agri- 
culture in  secondary  schools  in  this 
State,  much  remains  to  be  accom- 
plished. There  is  a  real  opportunity 
in  Texas  for  wide-awake  teachers 
of  agriculture,  especially  those  who 
can  vitalize  their  work,  and  prove 
themselves  to  be  country  life  leaders. 


63 


Agricultural  Kdueaiiion  m  i:ho  Stato 


F.  B.  JENKS 
Professor  of  Agricultural  Education 


ERMONT  is  fortunate 
in  that  there  have  been 
no  compulsory  laws 
such  as  have  been  pass- 
ed in  a  number  of  states 
requiring  the  teaching  of  agricul- 
ture in  every  school  without  first 
allowing  time  for  the  teachers  to 
prepare  for  it.  A  great  many  schools 
in  Vermont  are  now  making  some 
attempt  to  teach  agriculture  and 
with  varying  degrees  of  success. 
The  development  along  this  line 
in  the  high  schools  and  academies 
has  been  quite  rapid.  In  1913-14 
there  were  only  four  such  schools 
employing  a  specially  trained  agri- 
cultural teacher.  In  1914-15  there 
were  nine,  and  this  year,  1915-16, 
there  are  no  less  than  fifteen.  In 
fact,  the  number  of  schools  desiring 
to  introduce  agriculture,  is  growing 
more  rapidly  than  teachers  are  being 
trained,  and  the  most  difficult  prob- 
lem is  the  securing  of  competent 
teachers. 

The  last  legislature  revised  the 
educational  laws  of  the  state,  and  a 
number  of  items  in  the  new  law  will 
affect  directly  agricultural  educa- 
tion. A  brief  discussion  of  certain 
features  appears  pertinent  at  this 
time. 

1 .  The  school  year  shall  not  be 
less   than    thirty-four   weeks   in   all 
public  schools. 

2.  Junior  high  schools  may  be 
maintained  in  any  town  where  the 
number  of  secondary  school  pupils 
warrants   it,    and   each  junior  high 
school    shall    have    a    "four    years 
course  flexible  in  character,  designed 


for  the  instruction  of  pupils  who 
have  completed  an  elemen- 
tary course  of  not  less  than  six 
years,  and  suited  to  the  number  and 
need  of  the  local  pupils."  The 
course  of  study  for  these  schools  is 
to  be  arranged  by  the  state  board 
of  education,  and  must  include  vo- 
cational opportunities.  The  expense 
of  maintaining  the  vocational 
courses  shall  be  borne  by  the  towns 
in  which  the  schools  are  located, 
but  the  state  board  of  education 
shall  reimburse  the  towns  for  "such 
expense  as  will  tend  fairly  to  equalize 
the  facilities  afforded  by  such  courses 
and  the  burden  of  maintaining  the 
same."  The  state  board  may  also 
provide  land  for  instruction  in  ag- 
riculture at  the  expense  of  the  state. 
The  law  provides  also  that  the  state 
board  of  education  shall  "prescribe 
and  supervise  all  vocational  courses 
with  the  further  provision  that  all 
courses  in  agriculture  both  of  junior 
and  senior  high  schools,  shall  be  ap- 
proved by  the  trustees  of  the  state 
agricultural  schools."  Each  junior 
high  school  is  required  to  give  "a 
vocational  course  in  one  or  more  of 
the  following  subjects:  Agriculture, 
manual  arts,  commercial  subjects 
or  domestic  science  appropriate  to 
the  needs  and  environment  of  the 
particular  school."  Since  junior 
high  schools  will,  of  course,  be 
located  in  the  small  towns  or  vil- 
lages, and  since  the  vocational  course 
is  required  to  fit  the  needs  of  the 
community,  it  will  mean  that  agri- 
culture must  be  taught  in  prac- 
tically all  of  the  junior  high  schools. 


64 


Six  such  schools  are  already  start- 
ed, though  they  are  not  yet  well  or- 
ganized. Here  again  the  problem 
of  securing  the  right  teacher  is  most 
difficult.  The  principal  of  the  junior 
high  school  should  not  only  be  a 
teacher  with  sufficient  experience  to 
enable  him  to  organize  his  work,  and 
teach  the  academic  subjects  well, 
but  he  should  also  be  able  to  con- 
nect the  work  of  the  school  with  the 
home  life  of  the  pupils.  He  should 
be  a  leader  in  community  life  as  well 


considerable  aid  outside  the  avail- 
able funds  of  the  local  community. 

The  State  Board  of  Education 
has  adopted  certain  rules  and  regu- 
lations concerning  the  organization 
of  Junior  High  Schools  to  go  into 
effect  at  the  opening  of  the  next 
school  year,  that  will  help  to  stand- 
ardize the  work  and  make  it  more 
effective.  Among  those  affecting  the 
teaching  of  agriculture  are  the  fol- 
lowing: 


PART  OF  CLASS  OF  '  I  5  IN  AGRICULTURE,  ORLEANS  HIGH  SCHOOL,  ORLEANS,  VT. 


as  a  practical  farmer.  The  unusual 
character  of  his  work  calls  for  a  man 
with  initiative  and  he  must  be  a 
tireless  worker  since  the  demands 
upon  him  are  necessarily  much 
greater  than  on  the  average  teacher. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  man 
who  measures  up  to  the  demands 
can  command  a  salary  above  that  of 
the  ordinary  teacher.  In  many  in- 
stances, no  doubt,  it  will  require 


a.  The    teacher    of    agriculture 
must  be  a  graduate  of  an  agricul- 
tural   college    (or    the    equivalent 
thereof)  and  must  have  had  suffi- 
cient practical   farm  experience   to 
enable  him   to  interpret  local  con- 
ditions. 

b.  He  must  devote  at  least  one- 
half  of  his  time  to  the  teaching  of 
agriculture.      The  time  devoted  to 
each  subject  must  be  at  least  one 

65 


0!F 


40  minute  period  each  day  with  one 
double  period  per  week  for  labora- 
tory and  field  exercises.  Extra  time 
to  be  given  when  projects  demand 
it. 

c.  The  equipment  must  be  ad- 
equate to  supplement  the  recitation 
and  should  include  a  laboratory  or 
laboratories,  ample  in  size  and  with 
sufficient   apparatus   to   permit   in- 
dividual work. 

d.  The  school  year  shall  be  at 
least    36    weeks    in    length.       The 


through  practical  instruction  in  ag- 
riculture, including  tillage,  crop 
raising,  orcharding,  forestry,  farm 
management,  marketing  and  the 
allied  subjects  of  domestic  science 
and  the  arts."  This  enactment  is 
the  result  of  the  gift  by  Theodore 
N.  Vail  to  the  state  of  Vermont,  of 
the  Lyndonville  Agricultural  School 
and  the  Speedwell  farms.  This 
school  was  established  several  years 
ago  by  Mr.  Vail  and  has  been  very 
successfully  conducted  by  him  since 


GREENHOUSE  USED  IN  AGRICULTURAL  COURSE  IN  HIGH  SCHOOL,  ORLEANS,  VT. 


teacher  of  agriculture  must  be  em- 
ployed for  the  12  months,  devoting 
the  summer  months  when  school  is 
not  in  session  to  the  supervision  of 
home  project  work. 

3.  "A  state  school  of  agricul- 
ture to  be  known  as  the  Theodore 
N.  Vail  School  and  farms  is  hereby 
created  and  established  at  Lyndon 
for  the  purpose  of  developing  the 
agricultural  resources  of  the  state 


that  time.  It  has  grown  constantly 
in  number  of  students  since  its  es- 
tablishment, and  is  one  of  the  best 
equipped  agricultural  schools  in  the 
United  States. 

This  with  the  State  School  at 
Randolph  constitute  the  state  agri- 
cultural schools,  and  the  law  pro- 
vides for  a  board  of  trustees  com- 
posed of  "the  commissioner  of  agri- 
culture and  the  Dean  of  the  State 


66 


College  of  Agriculture,  ex-officio, 
and  three  trustees  to  be  appointed 
by  the  governor. ' '  The  commissioner 
of  agriculture  shall  be  chairman. 
The  board  of  trustees  shall  have 
general  care  and  supervision,  man- 
agement and  control  of  all  schools 
of  agriculture  and  farms  maintained 
or  in  any  way  aided  by  the  state. 

There  were  during  the  past  year 
about  1  50  students  in  these  two  ag- 
ricultural schools,  and  the  number 
is  steadily  increasing. 

A  former  law  which  is  still  in 
force  grants  $200.  to  each  4  year 
high  school  in  the  state  that  has 
a  department  of  agriculture  with  a 
specially  trained  teacher.  The  re- 
quirements are  very  similar  to  those 
of  the  teacher  of  agriculture  in  the 
Junior  High  Schools.  There  are 
eight  such  schools  at  present. 

The  State  Board  of  Education  has 
invited  the  State  Agricultural  Col- 
lege to  assist  in  the  supervision  of 
Junior  High  Schools  and  the  teach- 
ing of  agriculture  and  home  econ- 
omics in  all  other  high  schools.  The 
department  of  agricultural  educa- 
tion will  be  charged  with  this  sup- 
ervision. 

A  new  curriculum  for  the  college 
of  Agriculture  of  the  State  Univer- 
sity was  put  into  effect  upon  the 
opening  of  school  in  September 
1915.  The  courses  of  study  are 
planned  so  as  to  equip  the  student 
that  he  may  meet  successfully  the 
problems  which  he  will  have  to  face 
in  whatever  line  of  agricultural 
pursuit  he  ray  desire  to  enter, 
whether  it  be  in  practical  farming, 
teaching  or  research.  In  order  to 
accomplish  this  the  instructional 
staff  believe  the  college  should  give 
a  broad,  scientific  training  with  con- 
siderable time  devoted  to  the  so- 
called  cultural  subjects.  This,  of 
course,  is  done  without  discounting 
the  value  of  practical  demonstra- 


tions and  field  operations.  The 
emphasis,  however,  is  placed  upon 
lectures,  text  book  and  laboratory 
work,  which  they  could  not  get 
otherwise,  rather  than  on  the  tech- 
nique of  sundry  operations  con- 
nected with  agricultural  pursuits 
which  they  may,  in  most  cases, 
secure  to  better  advantage  outside 
of  college.  The  methods  pursued 
have  in  view  the  development  of  the 
powers  of  observation,  and  thought 
more  than  the  accumalution  of 
facts. 

Students  thus  broadly  educated 
will  become  not  only  better  farmers 
but  better  citizens.  Their  training 
should  not  only  fit  them  the  better 
to  earn  a  livelihood,  but  to  play 
well  the  part  of  man  in  the  world's 
work. 

Four  courses  of  study  are  now 
offered,  viz: 

A  course  in  Agronomy. 

A  course  in  Horticulture. 

A  course  in  Animal  Husbandry 
and  Dairying. 

A  course  for  the  Training  of 
Teachers  of  Agriculture  in  the  Sec- 
ondary Schools. 

These  four  courses  are  indentical 
during  the  first  two  years.  During 
Freshman  year  all  the  students  take 
the  usual  fundamental  studies,  i.  e., 
Mathematics,  Chemistry,  English, 
either  French  or  German,  as  well 
as  courses  in  agricultural  botany, 
dairying,  drawing  and  surveying. 
In  sophomore  year  English  and 
Botany  are  continued,  zoology  be- 
gun, and  soils  and  soil  management, 
vegetable  gardening,  types  and 
breeds  of  domestic  animals,  stock 
feeding  and  forestry  are  studied. 
Thus  it  is  seen  that  during  the  first 
two  years  the  student  deals  not 
only  with  the  fundamental  science 
and  language  studies,  but  he  takes 
also  at  least  one  course  in  each  of 


the  following  branches  of  technical 
agriculture:  Agronomy,  horticul- 
ture, animal  husbandry,  dairying 
and  forestry. 

Beginning  with  the  junior  year  a 
higher  degree  of  specialization  is 
entered  upon  in  accordance  with  the 
choice  of  the  individual  student. 
In  no  case,  however,  is  this  special- 
ization so  narrowed  as  to  preclude 
the  choice  of  outside  subjects.  In 
the  first  three  courses  some  election 
each  semester  must  be  made  of 
studies  from  other  courses.  The  stu- 


dent preparing  to  teach  agriculture 
in  the  secondary  schools  must  take 
a  full  course  in  education  and  sub- 
jects from  the  four  groups  of  agron- 
omy, horticulture,  animal  husband- 
ry and  dairying  ,and  forestry. 

This  arrangement  permits  spec- 
ialization, but  not  too  narrow  a 
specialization.  The  policy  which  has 
long  dominated  the  furnishing  of  a 
broadly  scientific,  rather  than  a  nar- 
rowly technical  course,  one  more- 
over in  which  the  humanities  are  not 
forgotten — is  still  maintained. 


68 


Agriculture  in  the  High  School 


H.    N.    GODDARD 

State  Inspector  of  High  School  Agriculture,  State  Department  of 
Education,  Madison,  Wisconsin 


N  1901,  thru  the  recom- 
mendation of  Hon.  L. 
D.  Harvey,  then  State 
Superintendent,  the 
Wisconsin  legislature 
passed  a  law  requiring  examination 
in  the  elements  of  agriculture  of  all 
candidates  for  certificates  to  teach 
in  the  elementary  schools.  At  the 
same  time  provision  was  made  by 
law  for  the  establishment  of  two 
County  Agricultural  Schools  for  the 
vocational  training  of  boys  and 
girls  in  agriculture  and  domestic 
science.  A  liberal  amount  of  state 
aid  was  provided  for  these  schools, 
while  the  remaining  cost  was  to  be 
furnished  by  the  county.  Four 
years  later,  in  1905,  thru  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  present  State 
Superintendent,  Hon  .C.  P.  Gary, 
a  law  was  passed  requiring  the 
teaching  of  agriculture  in  all  the 
country  schools  in  the  state.  These 
laws  together  with  the  reports  and 
discussions  connected  with  their 
passage,  resulted  in  a  very  general 
movement  toward  introducing  ag- 
riculture not  only  into  the  country 
schools,  but  also  into  graded  and 
secondary  schools  and  into  the  nor- 
mal schools. 

The  number  of  county  agricultural 
schools  has  increased  until  eight 
have  been  established.  One  was 
discontinued  last  year.  These 
schools  at  first  adopted  a  two  year 
course  for  pupils  beyond  the  eighth 
grade.  However,  during  the  last 
few  years,  in  order  to  attract  a  lar- 
ger number  of  students,  at  least 


three  of  the  schools  have  adopted 
full  four  year  high  school  courses. 
These  schools  have  thus  become 
distinctly  agricultural  high  schools. 
All  the  county  agricultural  schools 
have  been  splendidly  equipped  and 
provided  with  well  trained  instruc- 
tors. They  have  been  able  to  free 
themselves  easily  from  the  tradi- 
tional, bookish,  academic  standards 
and  have  developed  thoroly  prac- 
tical courses,  which  are  contribut- 
ing largely  to  the  community  prob- 
lems of  their  localities,  as  well  as  to 
the  general  agricultural  movement. 
Therearemany  indications  that  they 
may  in  the  future  fill  a  still  larger 
place  in  the  educational  system, 
altho  at  the  present  time  their 
future  is  not  a  fully  settled  problem. 
However,  this  may  be,  the  num- 
ber of  students  seeking  such  in- 
stitutions, at  first  was  somewhat  of 
a  disappointment  and  it  became 
evident  that  a  great  number  of 
parents  preferred  to  give  their 
children  an  education  in  a  local 
high  school,  even  one  of  the  ordinary 
academic  type,  rather  than  to  send 
them  to  a  distance  to  attend  a  dis- 
tinctly vocational  agricultural  school. 
This  led  many  of  the  advocates  of  ag- 
ricultural education  to  the  conviction 
that  the  public  high  schools,  being 
peculiarly  the  schools  of  the  people, 
were  eminently  fitted  todevelop  such 
training.  Furthermore,  the  new  view 
point  in  education  began  to  demand 
that  the  high  school  courses  should 
become  vitalized  byprograms  more 
closely  related  to  social  and  indus- 
trial needs. 


69 


Accordingly,  in  response  to  a  gen- 
eral demand  thruout  the  state,  the 
legislature  of  191  1  passed  a  law  giv- 
ing special  state  aid  to  high  schools 
maintaing  courses  in  maunal  train- 
ing, domestic  science  and  agricul- 
ture. Commercial  courses  were  two 
years  later  included  under  similar 
provisions.  For  some  years  before 
the  passage  of  the  1911  law,  pro- 
gressive high  schools  had  been  giv- 
ing considerable  work  along  these 
lines,  but  the  new  law  led  to  a 
standardization  of  courses,  and  to 
a  very  rapid  increase  in  the  number 
of  schools  offering  such  work.  By 
1913  over  sixty  high  schools  had 
adopted  the  agricultural  course, 
while  at  the  present  time  there  are 
over  eighty  high  schools  giving  this 
work.  In  addition,  many  high 
schools  are  giving  from  a  half  to  a 
full  year's  work  without  special  aid. 
Furthermore,  the  1913  legislature 
provided  one  hundred  dollars  spec- 
ial aid  to  any  state  graded  school 
(usually  a  consolidated  school  of 
eight  grades)  on  condition  that  in- 
dustrial work  be  developed  to  a 
standard  approved  by  a  state  in- 
spector. This  industrial  work  in- 
cludes for  the  most  part  manual 
training,  domestic  science  and  agri- 
culture. It  is  thus  seen  that  the  ag- 
riculture has  been  developed  along 
with  the  other  industrial  subjects, 
the  idea  being  to  offer  as  varied 
lines  of  vocational  work  as  possible 
in  order  not  only  to  meet  the  special 
needs  of  the  communities,  but  also 
to  offer  the  greatest  opportunity 
possible  for  each  pupil  to  discover 
his  tastes  and  aptitudes  in  relation 
to  fundamental  lines  of  life  activity. 
To  this  extent  the  work  is  intended 
to  be  vocational.  Many  schools 
offer  several  and  some  all  of  these 
courses. 

The  present  law  provides  aid  to 
the  extent  of  one  half  of  the  cost  of 


instruction  in  the  special  branch,  up 
to  a  maximum  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  ($250),  if  the  work  is 
given  in  the  high  school  only,  or 
three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
($350),  if  given  also  in  seventh  and 
eighth  grades.  The  teacher  must  be 
specially  licensed  by  the  State 
Board  of  Examiners,  and  a  course 
of  study  approved  by  the  State 
Superintendent  must  be  adopted. 
This  course  of  study  must  be  also 
the  equivalent  of  the  course  of 
study  prescribed  for  free  h  i  gh 
schools,  the  idea  being  to  link  up 
the  agricultural  or  other  vocational 
course  with  a  strong  general  course 
which  is  adapted  to  the  needs  of 
good  citizenship. 

A  four  year  agricultural  course 
has  been  required  by  the  State 
Superintendent.  peneral  science 
may  be  offered  as  the  first  half  year. 
The  other  units  include  a  year  of 
farm  plant  life,  a  year  of  animal 
husbandry,  half  a  year  of  soils,  and 
half  a  year  of  each  farm  mechanics 
and  farm  management.  A  good  deal 
of  flexibility  is  allowed  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  this  course  accord- 
ing to  local  conditions. 

From  the  beginning  the  indust- 
trial  or  project  side  has  been  re- 
garded as  essential  in  the  agricul- 
tural work  of  the  high  schools.  It 
is  expected  that  one  or  more  special 
projects  shall  be  carried  out  by 
each  pupil  during  each  year  of  the 
course  as  a  condition  of  state  aid. 
The  term  project,  as  distinguished 
from  the  practicum  or  exercise,  is 
understood  to  be  a  piece  of  farm 
practice  extended  over  a  long 
enough  time  to  round  up  a  complete 
and  productive  result,  and  it  is 
believed  that  such  a  result  should 
be,  wherever  possible  financially 
productive.  The  individual  or  home 
project  has  been  considered  as  of  first 
importance,  but  school  or  collective 


70 


projects  have  been  extensively 
carried  out  and  are  believed  to  have 
many  decided  advantages  not  so 
fully  realized  by  the  home  project 
alone.  In  fact  it  has  been  uniform 
experience  that  the  school  project 
stimulates  and  encourages  the  home 
project.  School  projects  have  in- 
cluded the  management  of  a  school 
plot,  steer  fattening,  managing  sev- 
eral dairy  cows  and  marketing  the 
product,  poultry  work  and  horticul- 
tural work.  During  the  year  1914-15 
nearly  half  of  the  high  schools  re- 
ceiving aid  for  agriculture  operated 
school  plots,  varying  in  size  from  a 
small  garden  patch  to  ten  acres. 
Raising  an  area  of  pure  bred  corn, 
producing  a  field  of  certified  pota- 
toes, starting  a  plot  of  alfalfa,  hot 
bed  work,  or  growing  the  common 
garden  vegetables  have  been  some 
of  the  common  forms  of  the  school 
plot  work.  Home  projects  have 
included  acre  corn  work,  potato 
raising,  gardening,  hot  bed  work, 
raising  and  canning  tomatoes  (for 
girls),  poultry  raising,  calf  raising, 
pig  fattening,  cow  testing  and  land- 
scape work.  A  large  amount  of  club 
and  contest  work  has  been  carried 
out,  much  of  it  in  cooperation  with 
the  Boy's  and  Girl's  Club  and  Con- 
test Department  of  the  agricultural 
college.  School  exhibits  and  fairs 
have  become  very  general.  In  Feb- 
ruary of  the  present  year,  a  state 
wide  stock  judging  contest  was 
carried  out  under  the  direction  of  a 
special  committee  appointed  by  the 
agricultural  section  of  the  State 
Teacher 's  Association.  High  schools 
having  agricultural  d  e  p  a  r  t- 
.  ments  and  the  county  agricultural 
schools  were  grouped  into  districts 
in  each  of  which  a  preliminary 
contest  was  held.  Winning  teams 
then  came  to  Madison  for  a  final 
contest  at  the  agricultural  college. 
This  resulted  in  a  greatly  increased 


interest  in  the  agricultural  work 
among  the  high  schools  of  the  state. 
Arrangements  have  now  been  made 
to  make  this  an  annual  event. 

The  employment  of  the  agricul- 
tural director  for  an  eleven  month 's 
year  has  not  been  required  by  law, 
but  the  plan  has  been  urged  by 
every  other  means,  with  the  result 
that  now  more  than  a  third  of  the 
schools  are  following  this  plan. 
Summer  supervision  is  considered 
absolutely  necessary  for  school  plot 
work. 

A  clearer  and  more  definite  idea 
of  the  character  of  the  work  in  these 
high  school  agricultural  depart- 
ments may  be  gained  by  a  descrip- 
tion of  some  of  the  special  schools. 
The  one  at  Green  Bay,  West  Side, 
is  a  good  example  of  the  city  type, 
Green  Bay  being  a  city  of  about 
30,000  population.  This  course  is 
directed  by  Mr.  R.  H.  Cameron  and 
has  been  in  operation  about  four 
years.  A  four  year  course  of  study 
is  offered  with  the  usual  lines  of 
work,  including  systematic  class 
room  instruction,  laboratory  ex- 
periments and  demonstrations,  field 
study,  and  project  work.  Con- 
siderable farm  carpentry  work  is 
done  in  connection  with  the  pro- 
jects. Conditions  have  not  been 
favorable  here  for  much  of  what  is 
ordinarily  considered  extension 
work,  tho  much  interest  has  been 
aroused  among  the  surrounding 
farmers.  The  practical  or  project 
side  of  the  work  has  been  given 
great  prominence  from  the  begin- 
ning, including  both  school  and  home 
projects.  Conditions  in  this  city 
have  been  particularly  favorable 
for  the  development  of  the  former, 
but  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
this  has  only  served  to  stimulate 
and  promote  the  latter.  Market 
gardening,  poultry  work  and  dairy- 
ing have  been  especially  developed 


71 


THE  QUARTERLY  OF 


as  school  projects,  while  gardening 
and  poultry  work  have  been  most 
popular  as  home  projects. 

The  "school  farm"  as  it  is  called, 
began  with  a  plot  of  two  acres  which 
was  rented  and  operated  as  a  gar- 
den. This  plot  has  been  increased 
from  year  to  year  until  during  the 
last  year  it  had  grown  to  ten  acres. 
Fourteen  acres  will  be  operated 
next  year.  Early  in  the  work  with 
the  farm  a  model  poultry  house  was 


equipment,  also  paid  for  out  of  pro- 
ceeds of  the  work.  On  the  comple- 
tion of  the  barn,  the  dairying  feature 
was  added  by  the  purchase  of  two 
grade  cows,  the  milk  being  market- 
ed with  the  other  products.  A  horse 
and  delivery  wagon  have  been  pur- 
chased for  the  delivering  of  pro- 
ducts. 

Practically  all  of  the  work  con- 
nected with  this  farm  is  done  by  the 
students  themselves  and  all  the 


& 


SHOP  AND  FORGE  BUILDING,   MONDOVI,    WIS. 


erected  by  the  students  and  poultry 
raising  became  a  prominent  feature 
of  the  work.  About  a  year  ago  a 
model  barn  was  planned  and  built 
under  the  supervision  of  the  manual 
training  department  of  the  high 
school,  all  the  work  being  done  by 
the  boys.  Lumber  for  the  building 
itself  was  furnished  by  the  school 
board,  but  the  cement  floor  and  mo- 
del furniture  were  paid  for  out  of 
the  profits  of  the  farm.  Last  fall  a 
fourteen  ton  silo  was  added  to  the 


products  from  garden,  dairy  and 
poultry  are  marketed  in  the  city. 
Much  of  the  work  is  done  as  a  part 
of  instruction  or  demonstration, 
but  when  the  students  have  learned 
the  principles  and  practice  and  the 
work  becomes  pure  labor,  then 
financial  reward  is  offered  and  pu- 
pils are  paid  by  the  hour  for  their 
work.  The  students  are  carfully  or- 
ganized so  that  they  may  look  after 
every  phase  of  the  work.  One  is 
appointed  the  "boss  farmer"  while 


72 


others  are  captains  of  groups,  each 
group  being  assigned  to  special  duty 
in  charge  of  the  captain.  Any  boy 
has  the  opportunity  to  work  for  pay 
whenever  his  studies  are  all  up  to  a 
satisfactory  standard,  his  time  being 
carefully  checked.  Students  are 
allowed  ten  per  cent  commission  for 
securing  orders.  These  orders  are 
filed  on  a  special  spindle,  being 
taken  from  there  by  the  captain  of 
the  group  on  duty  for  the  day.  This 


careful  accounts  of  every  phase  of 
the  work  is  made  a  definite  and  im- 
portant feature.  The  gross  receipts 
from  the  farm  during  the  last 
school  year,  between  Sept.  1,  1914, 
and  Sept.  1,  1915,  were  $600. 

For  the  poultry  work,  four  or 
five  incubators  installed  in  a  special 
basement  room  have  been  used  for 
hatching  the  chickens.  The  farm 
poultry  house  is  stocked  from  this 
source.  At  the  same  time  pupils 


BARN    IN    CONSTRUCTION,    WEST  SIDE,   WIS. 


captain  directs  the  work  of  gather- 
ing preparing  and  delivering  the 
products.  More  recently  one  of  the 
students  has  been  engaged  at  a 
salary  of  $18  per  month  as  "barn 
boss",  while  another  takes  special 
charge  of  the  delivering  at  a  salary 
of  $5  per  month.  The  profit  of  the 
farm  after  paying  all  expenses  are 
turned  into  the  funds  of  the  depart- 
ment and  used  for  the  purchaseof  fur- 
ther equipment  or  for  other  needs. 
Effort  is  now  being  made  to  get 
enough  ahead  for  the  purchase  of  an 
automobile  to  be  used  for  deliver- 
ing, field  trips,  etc.  The  keeping  of 


have  used  these  incubators  for  their 
home  poultry  work.  Each  pupil 
starting  a  poultry  project,  after 
selecting  his  breed,  is  expected  to 
purchase  pure  bred  eggs  and  then 
he  is  permitted  to  use  the  incubators 
for  hatching  by  paying  a  small  fee 
for  fuel.  When  the  chicks  are 
hatched  the  pupil  takes  them  home, 
constructs  his  own  brooder,  later 
constructs  necessary  coops,  and 
before  winter,  gets  ready  a  suitable 
house  for  wintering  the  birds  ard 
carrying  on  an  egg  producing  pro- 
ject. This  work  has  aroused  unusual 
interest. 


A  remarkable  thing  about  this 
course  has  been  the  great  number 
of  city  boys  that  have  chosen  the 
work.  During  1 9 1 4- '  1  5  out  of  about 
three  hundred  and  seventy-five  pu- 
pils in  this  high  school,  one  hundred 
and  fifty-one  were  in  the  agricultural 
course.  Of  these,  nearly  a  hundred 
had  gardens  at  home  last  year  and 
over  a  hundred  were  raising  chick- 
ens. One  year  500  chickens  were 
raised  on  the  school  farm. 

Exhibits  and  contests  have  been 
made  a  prominent  feature  in  con- 
nection with  all  the  work,  especially 
the  garden  and  poultry.  An  exhibit 
of  garden  products  in  the  fall  and  a 
poultry  show  in  the  winter,  have 
become  important  annual  events. 
Many  of  the  boys  have  taken  prizes 
at  the  county  fair  and  at  local 
poultry  shows.  The  agricultural 
director  has  been  employed  for  a 
year  of  twelve  months,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  first  year,  when  he 
gave  the  summer  work  supervision 
without  pay. 

Altho  conditions  here  have  not 
seemed  favorable  for  any  system- 
atic effort  to  carry  on  extension 
work  among  the  farmers  of  the  sur- 
rounding regions,  nevertheless,  large 
numbers  of  farmers  have  become  in- 
terested and  have  shown  this  in- 
terest by  coming  in  to  see  the  equip- 
ment and  to  discuss  the  problems 
involved. 

The  work  developed  in  the  Mon- 
dovi  high  school  has  been  of  a  more 
distinctly  rural  type.  This  course, 
directed  by  Mr.  James  Coyner,  has 
been  in  operation  also  for  about 
four  years.  Mondovi  is  a  rural  cen- 
ter with  about  thirteen  hundred  in- 
habitants, and  surrounded  by  an 
extensive  and  fertile  farming  region. 
Here  much  less  has  been  done  with 
a  school  farm  and  more  has  been  de- 
veloped along  the  line  of  home  and 
community  work.  A  good  deal  of 


attention  has  been  given  to  farm 
shop  work  including  carpentry, 
forge  work  and  cement  construc- 
tion. A  cement  block  shop  was  con- 
structed by  the  pupils  and  this  was 
equipped  with  benches,  forges  and 
cement  forms.  A  large  amount  of 
stock  judging  has  been  done  among 
the  herds  of  the  region.  Special 
stock  judging  contests  have  been 
planned  during  the  last  two  years. 
Since  alfalfa  was  comparatively 
new  in  this  region  and  farmers  were 
skeptical  about  its  success,  the  agri- 
cultural class  undertook  the  project 
of  starting  a  field  on  one  of  the 
farms.  An  unusually  fine  stand  was 
developed. 

Community  work  has  received 
considerable  attention.  First  a 
campaign  against  hog  cholera,  a 
disease  then  raging  in  the  region, 
was  started  under  the  leadership  of 
the  agricultural  director  aided  by  his 
classes.  Community  meetings  were 
held  in  the  school  houses  of  many 
of  the  surrounding  districts,  when 
talks  and  latern  slide  demonstra- 
tions were  given,  supplemented  by 
musical  and  literary  numbers.  As 
a  result  many  permanent  farmer's 
clubs  were  organized  for  regular 
study  of  farm  problems.  Many  car 
loads  of  lime  have  been  shipped  in 
and  distributed  to  the  farmers  at 
cost,  thru  the  efforts  of  the  agricul- 
tural department  of  the  school. 

Emphasis  has  here  been  placed 
upon  the  practical  or  project  side, 
because  of  the  conviction  that  ag- 
riculture in  the  schools  to  realize  its 
proper  educational  value  must  be 
treated  rather  as  an  industrial  art 
than  as  a  mere  science  to  be  studied 
by  the  recitation  and  laboratory 
methods  alone.  It  should  be  under- 
stood, however,  that  systematic 
class  room  instruction  and  suitable 
experimental  and  demonstration  al 
work  constitute  an  essential  phase 


71 


of  the  work  in  all  Wisconsin  high 
schools.  It  is  not  the  object  of  this 
paper  to  give  any  detailed  account 
of  this  side  of  the  work  except  to  say 
that  the  systematic  instruction  and 
the  project  work  are  carried  on  to- 
gether and  as  closely  related  as 
possible. 

There  is  much  yet  needed  to  bring 
this  work  to  its  greatest  efficiency. 
An  active  movement  is  already  in 
operation  to  secure  some  increase  in 
the  state  aid  so  that  all  schools  may 


itations,  may  become  the  rule. 
Adequately  trained  teachers  have 
been  hard  to  secure,  but  special 
courses  now  established  at  the  agri- 
cultural college,  and  at  two  normal 
schools  of  the  state  are  furnishing 
an  increasing  number  of  well  trained 
men  for  this  field.  The  improving 
of  these  courses  is  receiving  large 
attention.  Salaries  have  likewise 
been  inadequate,  but  there  is  a  con- 
stant tendency  for  these  to  increase, 
as  the  men  on  the  field  demonstrate 


INCUBATOR    ROOM,  GREEN   BAY,  WEST,   WIS 


be  required  to  employ  their  agricul- 
tural directors  for  at  least  eleven 
months  of  each  year.  Another  need 
is  getting  greater  permanence  of  ser- 
vice on  the  part  of  the  agricultural 
directors.  It  has  become  a  convic- 
tion that  at  least  three  years  of  ser- 
vice is  necessary  in  the  same  place  in 
order  to  secure  strong  work.  Hard- 
ly more  than  a  start  can  be  made  in 
one  year.  It  is  hoped  that  three 
year  contracts  with,  reasonable  lim- 


to  communities  the  value  of  the 
work.  Salaries  in  the  high  schools 
now  range  from  about  $800  for  nine 
months'  service  to  $1500  for  eleven 
months.  The  maximum  will  un- 
doubtedly increase  considerably  in 
the  next  few  years.  There  is  much 
need  for  more  systematic  plans  of 
carrying  out  and  crediting  the  pro- 
ject work,  but  considerable  progress 
in  this  direction  is  being  made  each 
year. 


75 


Y   OIF 


As  to  the  general  success  of  the 
work,  it  may  be  said  that  while  old 
academic  standards  have  made  it 
hard  to  develop  the  most  practical 
work  in  some  schools,  nevertheless, 
in  many,  the  work  has  completely 
changed  community  sentiment 
toward  the  school.  Furthermore, 
many  boys  are  being  kept  in  school 
thru  their  interest  in  this  course.  At 
the  same  time,  they  are  being  led  to 
appreciate  the  value  cf  a  scientific 
study  of  farm  problems.  Likewise, 
they  are  gaining  an  understanding 


of  the  large  opportunities  in  agricul- 
ture for  the  well-trained  men,  and 
are  thus  being  led  to  look  to  the 
farm  for  their  own  life  occupation. 
Finally,  a  growing  interest  and  in- 
telligence are  being  awakened 
among  farmers  themselves  in  the 
application  of  the  best  knowledge 
and  the  best  methods  to  their  work, 
leading  to  better  social  and  economic 
conditions,  and  to  greater  content- 
ment and  prosperity  in  this  most 
fundamental  of  American  indus- 
tries. 


76 


elopment  of  Special  Agikidt 
Schools  in  the  United  States 

C.  H.  LANE 

Chief  Specialist  in  Agricultural  Education,  U.  S. 
Department  of  Agriculture 


INTRODUCTION 

PECIAL  agricultural 
schools  apart  from  the 
State  Colleges  of  agri- 
culture are  now  main- 
tained, wholly  or  in 
part  by  state  funds,  in  at  least  six- 
teen states.  These  schools  vary 
greatly  in  work,  equipment,  in- 
come, and  size  of  district  served  but 
have  one  point  in  common  by  which 
they  may  be  distinguished  from 
public  high  schools  which  maintain 
courses  in  agriculture,  viz.,  that 
while  the  latter  offer  general  or  col- 
lege preparatory  secondary  courses 
in  agriculture,  mechanic  arts,  and 
home  economics,  supplemented  by 
such  work  in  mathematics,  English, 
and  the  natural  sciences  as  is  needed 
to  round  out  the  technical  work  into 
a  fairly  good  vocational  course  for 
young  men  and  young  women  who 
do  not  intend  to  pursue  a  college 
course. 

The  area  served  by  the  agricul- 
tural schools  in  the  different  states 
varies  from  a  single  county  to  a 
large  indeterminate  area  comprising 
a  third,  a  half,  or  a  whole  state. 
Massachusetts,  Michigan,  Missis- 
sippi, North  Dakota,  and  Wisconsin 
have  adopted  the  county  unit; 
Alabama,  the  congressional  district; 
Oklahoma,  the  supreme  court  judi- 
cial district;  while  California,  Col- 
orado, Minnesota,  Nebraska,  New 
York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Vermont 
have  agricultural  schools  serving 
large,  indeterminate  areas. 


Wisconsin  was  the  first  state  to 
establish  county  agricultural 
schools.  In  1915  North  Dakota 
had  two  such  schools  in  operation, 
Michigan  2,  Wisconsin  7,  and  Mis- 
sissippi 41.  Alabama  has  a  com- 
plete system  of  congressional  dis- 
trict agricultural  schools,  9  in  num- 
ber; Georgia  has  1  1  agricultural 
district  schools,  and  Arkansas  4 
geographical  district  schools.  Okla- 
homa has  5  judicial  district  agricul- 
tural schools,  and  1  special  district 
school  in  the  "Panhandle."  Of  the 
indeterminate  district  schools  Cal- 
ifornia has  1 ,  Colorado  1 ,  Minne- 
sota 2,  Nebraska  1 ,  Vermont  2,  New 
York  5,  and  Pennsylvania  8.  The 
annual  cost  of  these  schools  for 
maintenance  alone  is  about  three- 
quarters  of  a  million  dollars.  Some 
of  the  states  have  special  agricul- 
tural schools  connected  with  the 
state  agricultural  colleges.  These 
are  not  included  in  the  figures  just 
given. 

Since  the  first  school  of  agricul- 
ture was  opened  in  Minnesota  in 
1888  this  class  of  schools  has  been 
watched  with  much  interest.  They 
have  truly  been  on  trial  in  the  pub- 
lic mind.  The  progress  of  these 
schools  has  been  one  of  the  most 
interesting  educational  problems 
since  the  establishment  of  the  so- 
called  land  grant  colleges  for  the 
teaching  of  agriculture  and  rre- 
chanic  arts.  This  new  step  in  the 
extension  of  agricultural  education 
to  the  masses  was  one  which  made 


77 


r,l?J 


the  educators  of  the  country  look  on 
with  mingled  doubt,  and  hope. 

In  all  the  instruction  in  this  new 
type  of  school  the  useful  side  of  the 
knowledge  and  training  given  to 
students  is  emphasized.  This  is  the 
principle  on  which  they  are  founded. 
The  extended  knowledge  which  the 
farmer  must  have  should  be  made 
as  practical  as  possible.  At  every 
point  the  school  is  made  to  co-oper- 
ate with  the  farm,  the  shop,  the 
dairy,  and  the  home.  The  courses 
in  wood  and  iron  making  are  made 
far  more  practical  and  useful  than 
such  courses  usually  are.  Nearly 
all  the  time  of  the  classes  is  utilized 
in  making  articles  of  use  on  the 
farm,  in  the  home  and  in  the  school, 
and  shop.  The  same  feature  of  use- 
ful training  prevails  in  the  domestic 
economy,  in  home  economics,  plant 
life,  farm  accounts,  the  study  of 
soils,  poultry,  and  in  fact  all  sub- 
jects. 

The  farm  demands  men  who  are 
prepared  in  special  schools.  Men 
with  the  best  brains  are  wanted  on 
the  farm.  The  time  is  rapidly 
drawing  near  when  no  occupation 
can  be  found  which  will  demand  a 
better  preparation  than  farming. 
A  wide  knowledge  of  science,  a 
thorough  acquaintance  with  the 
world's  markets  and  how  to  use 
them,  a  clear  insight  into  the  reasons 
underlying  all  farm  operations,  a 
thorough  attention  to  all  details  of 
the  business,  a  steadiness  in  all  mat- 
ters pertaining  to  life  on  the  farm, 
courage  to  act  and  act  quickly  at 
the  proper  time,  good  physical 
strength  and  power  of  endurance — 
these  are  some  of  the  qualities  de- 
manded of  the  farmer  by  the  farm 
of  tomorrow.  There  is  a  call  for 
such  men.  The  advocates  of  the 
special  schools  of  agriculture,  there- 
fore, do  not  believe  that  the  course 
of  study  need  be  whittled  down  to 


the  extent  that  they  shall  be  less 
cultural  or  less  truly  educational 
than  the  existing  high  school  courses. 
It  is  believed,  on  the  contrary,  that 
better  courses  than  usually  offered 
in  schools  attended  by  pupils  from 
rural  districts  can  be  worked  out  for 
these  special  schools,  courses  which 
contain  all  that  is  essential  in  the 
old  and,  in  addition,  provide  for 
training  along  distinctly  agricul- 
tural lines. 

We  shall  now  mention  some 
features  of  the  system  as  required 
throughout  the  country. 

MINNESOTA 

Prof.  Edward  D.  Porter,  in  charge 
of  the  department  of  agriculture  of 
the  University  of  Minnesota,  was 
probably  the  first  man  to  advocate 
the  establishment  of  a  school  of 
agriculture  of  secondary  grade.  The 
board  of  regents  of  the  University  of 
Minnesota  gravely  shook  their  heads 
when  the  proposition  to  start  a 
school  on  the  University  farm  was 
first  broached  at  their  meetings. 
One  day  in  October,  1887,  however, 
the  regents  decided  that  Professor 
Porter  might  put  up  a  schoolhouse. 
This  was  at  four  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon. Before  six  o'clock  the  Pro- 
fessor had  let  the  contract  for  the 
erection  of  a  building  to  carry  on  the 
work  for  the  first  special  school  of 
agriculture  of  secondary  grade  es- 
tablished in  the  United  States. 
"Our  aim  here,"  said  Professor  Por- 
ter, "is  to  take  boys  right  off  the 
farm  where  they  are  living  and  in- 
struct them  in  a  clear,  practical  way 
and  then  send  them  back  to  the 
farm,  to  make  practical  farmers  of 
them.  They  do  not  have  to  take 
any  preparatory  courses  or  spend 
four  years  at  college.  They  come 
here  from  the  district  schools  with 
only  such  knowledge  as  they  have 


JUNE,  3.93,$ 


gained  there  and  are  admitted  to 
our  course  of  study." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  school  of 
agriculture  taught  in  these  early 
days,  much  besides  agriculture.  The 
district  school  education  of  the  boys 
was  supplemented  and  extended  by 
instruction  in  the  English  branches. 
The  agricultural  teaching  was  by 
lecture  courses  and  covered  the 
range  of  practical  agriculture,  horti- 
culture, arboriculture,  agricultural 
chemistry,  veterinary  medicine  and 
surgery,  economic  entomology,  an- 
atomy and  physiology  of  the  domes- 
tic animals,  and  economics.  The 
school  as  it  is  today  and  ever  since 
its  inception  has  been  a  success. 

Two  other  schools  of  agriculture 
have  been  established  in  Minnesota, 
one  at  Crookston  and  the  other  at 
Morris. 

A  word  concerning  some  features 
of  the  work  at  the  Northwest  School 
of  Agriculture,  at  Crookston,  Minn., 
organized  in  1906  as  a  department 
of  the  State  College  of  Agriculture, 
will  suffice  for  the  Minnesota  sys- 
tem. In  addition  to  a  three-year 
course  provided  by  this  school,  the 
students  carry  on  at  their  homes 
during  the  summer,  a  number  of  very 
interesting  and  valuable  demonstra- 
tions in  putting  into  practice  vari- 
ous lines  of  work  they  learn  at  the 
school.  This  work  is  called  "sum- 
mer practicum  work."  Each  boy 
selects  one  or  more  lines  that  he  finds 
it  will  be  practical  to  follow  on  his 
own  farm  during  the  two  summers 
that  come  between  his  entrance  into, 
and  graduation  from  the  three-year 
course  of  the  school.  The  project 
selected  must  be  submitted  to  the 
station  council  for  approval  before 
March  1 .  Regular  reports  of  the 
progress  of  some  work  are  recorded 
each  month.  Some  one  connected 
with  the  school  and  experiment  sta- 
tion usually  inspects  the  work  at 


least  once  during  the  summer.  Sug- 
gestions regarding  the  work  are 
given  and  the  progress  being  made 
noted.  Those  students  who  are 
unable  to  carry  on  the  summer  pro- 
ject work  at  home  during  the  two 
summers  are  expected  to  do  extra 
work  in  some  department  of  the 
Northwest  Experiment  Station, 
which  is  a  part  of  the  school  at 
Crookston,  to  supplement  their 
class  work.  Two  hours  of  credit  are 
given  for  the  work  satisfactorily 
completed  each  summer.  Reports 
of  the  best  summer  project  work  are 
published  in  the  school  circular  with 
the  rank  secured  by  each  student. 
Some  of  these  home  projects  selected 
by  the  students  are  feeding  horses 
and  record  of  feeding  work,  fruit 
trees  or  shrubbery  planted,  cultiva- 
tion vs.  mulching  and  orchard,  chic- 
ken experiment — -100  egg  hatch, 
alfalfa  growing,  milk  and  cow  test- 
ing— cost,  organization  of  local  test- 
ing, small  buildings — work  and  cost, 
installation  and  cost  of  septic  tank, 
install  a  gasoline  engine  and  its  oper- 
ation— cost — work,  etc. 

In  order  that  the  course  of  study 
as  offered  at  Crookston  may  not  be 
considered  a  blind  alley  in  American 
agricultural  education,  an  advanced 
course  is  given  for  graduates  of  the 
school  of  agriculture.  The  academic 
subjects  covered  in  the  advanced 
course  include  elementary  algebra, 
plane  geometry,  general  history, 
rural  sociology,  and  elementary 
economics. 

Since  the  work  of  the  special 
schools  of  agriculture  in  Minnesota 
is  quite  similar  to  that  carried  on  in 
other  states  having  a  similar  organ- 
ization of  area  served,  we  shall  go  to 
the  county  unit  of  administration. 

WISCONSIN 

Wisconsin  was  the  first  state  in 
the  Union  to  organize  a  county 


79 


THIS  QUARTERLY  OF  ALPHA  2ETA 


school  of  agriculture  and  domestic 
economy.  The  early  history  of  sec- 
ondary agricultural  education  in 
Wisconsin  dates  back  to  the  winter 
of  1899  when  the  state  legislature 
appointed  Dr.  L.  D.  Harvey,  then 
state  superintendent  of  public  in- 
struction, a  commissioner  "to  inves- 
tigate and  report  upon  the  methods 
of  procedure  in  this  and  other  states 
and  countries  in  manual  training, 
and  in  the  theories  and  arts  of  agri- 
culture in  the  public  schools."  On 
the  strength  of  Doctor  Harvey's 
report  and  recommendations  the 
legislature  of  1901  passed  a  law  per- 
mitting the  establishment  of  two 
schools.  This  law  has  since  been 
amended  to  permit  the  establish- 
ment of  seven  schools. 

The  Wisconsin  type  of  county 
agricultural  school  is  largely  adapted 
to  the  conditions  found  in  the  coun- 
ties where  such  schools  are  located. 
Special  efforts  are  made  to  furnish 
additional  opportunies  for  school- 
ing to  the  94  out  of  every  100 
rural  and  urban  school  children 
who  would  otherwise  finish  their 
education  with  the  common  schools. 
These  county  schools  at  the  begin- 
ning offered  only  two  years  of  work 
and  were,  strictly  speaking,  agricul- 
tural trade  schools  and  had  for  their 
sole  object  the  education  of  the 
farmer's  boys  and  girls  who  did  not 
wish  to  take  up  an  extensive  college 
course  but  who  were  anxious  to  get 
that  form  of  training  that  would  be 
most  useful  to  them  when  they  took 
charge  of  the  home  farm  or  the  farm 
home. 

Unlike  the  congressional  judicial 
districts  the  county  is  a  taxable  unit. 
The  state  aid  given  these  schools 
shall  equal  the  amount  expended  for 
salaries  of  properly  qualified  teach- 
ers, not  to  exceed  from  $6,000  to 
$8,000,  based  upon  enrollment. 

There  seems  to  be  a  tendency  on 


the  part  of  some  of  these  schools  to 
extend  their  courses  from  two  to 
four  years  so  that  when  a  boy  has 
completed  the  four-year  course  he 
may  enter  the  state  agricultural 
college  without  examination. 

Some  ways  in  which  these  schools 
help  the  farmers  are  to  prepare  plans 
for  farm  buildings,  make  suggestions 
for  remodeling  old  buildings,  build 
forms  for  and  supervise  the  con- 
struction of  cement  silos,  water 
troughs,  and  small  structures,  test 
all  kinds  of  dairy  products,  assist  in 
the  selecting  of  farm  animals,  land 
draining  systems,  test  farm  seeds 
for  germination,  test  cattle  for 
tuberculosis,  test  soils,  and  recom- 
mend systems  of  rotation. 

The  table  will  show  the  states 
with  the  county  unit  and  number  of 
schools  established. 

ARKANSAS 

Arkansas  was  the  first  state  to  be 
divided  into  four  nearly  equal  geo- 
graphical agricultural  school  dis- 
tricts designated  numerically  and 
containing  from  1  7  to  20  counties  in 
each  district. 

The  question  of  establishing  agri- 
cultural schools  in  Arkansas  is  said 
to  have  originated  at  a  meeting  of 
the  Washington  County  Farmers' 
Union  in  1906  by  the  passing  of  a 
resolution  indorsing  the  establish- 
ment by  the  legislature  of  special 
agricultural  schools.  The  first  ac- 
tion taken  by  the  legislature  was  in 
1907,  when  a  bill  for  the  establish- 
ment of  one  agricultural  school  was 
passed,  but  was  vetoed  by  the  gov- 
ernor. 

In  1909  the  question  of  establish- 
ing agricultural  schools  came  up 
again  in  the  legislature  and  this  time 
a  bill  dividing  the  state  into  four 
districts  and  providing  for  the  estab- 
lishment in  each  of  these  districts  of 
an  institution,  to  be  known  as  "The 


80 


State  Agricultural  School,"  was 
passed  and  signed  by  the  governor. 
This  bill  carried  an  initial  appropria- 
tion of  $160,000,  which  was  divided 
equally  among  the  four  districts  to 
supplement  local  contributions  for 
land,  buildings,  equipment,  and  the 
maintenance  for  two  years  of  the 
schools  to  be  established.  It  also 
provides  that  "after  the  first  build- 
ings are  erected  and  ready  for  tem- 
porary use, all  work  in,  on,  and  about 
said  school,  whether  it  be  farming, 
building,  care  of  stock,  or  whatever 
kind  of  work,  shall  be  performed  by 
students  of  said  school." 

Each  agricultural  school  in  Arkan- 
sas is  controlled  by  a  board  of  five 
trustees  "who  shall  be  intelligent 
farmers,"  appointed  by  the  governor 
for  a  term  of  ten  years.  They  may 
fix  the  rules  of  admission  so  as  to 
equalize  the  attendance  among  the 
counties.  They  may  limit  the  num- 
ber admitted  to  suit  the  capacity  of 
the  school,  but  shall  not  charge  tui- 
tion. Students  must  be  1  5  years  of 
age. 

The  four-year  course  of  study  is 
prescribed  in  each  case  by  the  board 
of  trustees,  but  must  include  instruc- 
tion in  agriculture  and  horticulture, 
and  not  later  than  one  year  after  the 
opening  of  each  school  "there  shall 
be  established  in  connection  here- 
with a  textile  school,  in  which  shall 
be  taught  the  art  of  cotton  manu- 
facturing and  other  textile  manufac- 
turing, should  the  board  of  trustees 
deem  it  expedient." 

With  the  inauguration  of  these 
schools  Arkansas  has  in  operation  a 
definite  system  of  agricultural  edu- 
cation, beginning  with  the  common 
schools  and  extending  through  a 
four-year  college  course. 

ALABAMA 

The  Alabama  system  of  congres- 
sional district  agricultural  schools 


was  initiated  under  the  provisions  of 
a  bill  "to  establish  a  branch  agricul- 
tural experiment  station  and  branch 
agricultural  school  in  North  Ala- 
bama" which  was  approved  Febru- 
ary 21,  1889.  With  one  exception, 
the  institutions  located  at  Abbey- 
ville  and  Athens  by  the  above  act 
were  the  first  secondary  agricultural 
institutions  for  white  students  re- 
ceiving state  aid  to  be  established  in 
the  United  States.  The  "board  of 
control"  for  each  school  consists  of 
the  governor,  the  superintendent  of 
education,  the  commissioner  of  agri- 
culture, one  secretary-treasurer  for 
all  the  schools,  a  resident  member, 
and  one  other  member  selected  from 
the  district.  The  amount  of  state 
support  has  risen  from  $2,500  given 
each  of  the  two  schools  originally 
established  in  1889,  to  $4,500  at  the 
present  time.  Each  school  has  an 
experimental  farm  in  its  vicinity  in 
charge  of  a  trained  agriculturist. 
The  law  requires  that  $750  of  the 
state  appropriation  shall  be  ex- 
pended on  the  experiment  station. 
The  district  schools  of  Alabama 
have  been  greatly  benefited  by 
standardization,  made  possible  by 
the  association  of  presidents  and 
agriculturists  of  the  nine  district 
schools,  organized  in  1907.  One 
result  of  their  labors  is  the  course  of 
study  which  went  into  operation  in 
the  fall  of  1909. 

GEORGIA 

The  bill  providing  for  the  estab- 
lishment and  maintenance  of  schools 
of  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts 
in  the  respective  congressional  dis- 
tricts of  the  state  of  Georgia,  passed 
in  1906,  provides  that  "They  shall 
be  branches  of  the  state  college  of 
agriculture,  a  department  of  the 
University  of  Georgia,"  and  that 
"the  general  board  of  trustees  of  the 
University  shall  exercise  such  super- 


81 


QUARTERLY  OF  AZ. 


vision  as  in  their  judgment  may  be 
necessary  to  secure  unity  of  plan 
and  efficiency  in  said  schools." 

An  act  approved  August  19,  1911, 
amends  the  act  of  August  18,  1906, 
by  adding  a  new  section  which 
reads  as  follows:  "Said  schools  shall 
be  known  in  the  future  as  agricul- 
tural districts  schools  and  their 
boundaries  shall  remain  as  now 
fixed  by  law  without  future  refer- 
ence to  congressional  districts." 

We  give  A  Day's  Program  for  the 
District  Agricultural  Schools  of 
Georgia. 

OKLAHOMA 

The  Oklahoma  schools  of  agricul- 
ture are  under  the  general  manage- 
ment of  the  "State  Commission  of 
Agricultural  and  Industrial  Educa- 
tion," consisting  of  the  State  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruction,  the 
president  of  the  state  board  of  agri- 
culture, and  the  President  of  the 
Oklahoma  Agricultural  and  Me- 
chanical College.  A  condition  of 
the  location  of  the  schools  is  that 
"they  shall  be  provided  with  not  less 
than  80  acres  of  land  without  cost  to 
the  state  and  deeded  in  perpetuity 
to  the  state."  No  pupil  is  admitted 
to  the  lower  grades  who  has  similar 
privileges  in  his  home  district.  Stu- 
dents over  1 6  years  of  age  may  take 
certain  special  courses.  Some  of 
these  schools  also  maintain  "short 
courses"  of  two  weeks  for  farmers 


and  their  wives.  These  courses  in- 
clude instruction  and  demonstration 
in  domestic  economy,  canning,  pre- 
serving, and  cooking  for  women,  and 
various  agricultural  subjects  for 
men.  The  schools  were  authorized 
in  1908.  The  school  for  the  second 
district  at  Tishomingo  opened  the 
same  autumn.  In  1910  the  three 
counties  of  the  fifth  school  district 
composing  the  "Panhandle"  were 
made  into  a  special  agricultural 
school  district,  with  a  school  located 
at  Goodwell.  Starting  with  an  ini- 
tial appropriation  of  $20,000  for 
buildings  and  equipment  the  five 
district  schools  have  received  an- 
nually increasing  appropriations, 
now  almost  as  much  as  the  original 
sum  voted. 

Since  there  is  much  confusion  as 
to  just  what  is  meant  by  the  "agri- 
cultural high  school"  and  a  "special 
agricultural  school,"  it  may  be  said 
that  the  special  school  is  one  in 
which  agriculture  predominates  and 
in  which  some  of  the  usual  high 
school  subjects,  particularly  foreign 
languages  and  higher  mathematics, 
are  not  required  or  not  even  offered. 
It  is  distinctly  of  secondary  school 
grade  including  no  grammar  grades; 
it  should  require  the  students  to 
spend  at  least  one-half  of  the  entire 
time  on  agriculture  (or  home  eco- 
nomics for  girls)  and  that  it  should 
make  definite  provisions  for  prac- 
tice in  farm  operations. 


82 


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OVERDUE. 


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Makers 

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At. 


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